


A person's a person no matter how small

by ravenandrose13



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Family, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-09-22
Packaged: 2018-07-11 05:38:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 23,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7031242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravenandrose13/pseuds/ravenandrose13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Little!Regina and Mommy!Emma story since there aren't nearly enough of those. Eventual SwanQueen. Emma changes Regina back into a six-year-old in an attempt to save her life and now has to find a way to change her back while Caring for the girl and keeping her out of harm's way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! :)  
> I decided to jump on the bandwagon, cause I just love Little!Regina & Mommy!Emma and vice versa.  
> The amazingly talented Rowark was such an inspiration to me.  
> Hopefully I can post on a regular basis and I’m sorry if there are any grammar/spelling mistakes.  
> And I always kinda ignore H00d and H00k because I just don’t like them and I’m not gonna be gentle with them so be warned. ;)
> 
> Set after the season 4 finale, because let’s be honest season 5 was such a load of bs.  
> Viva la Swan Queen! :P  
> Mwah!

**_ Prologue  _ **

_A few months had come and gone and Emma had more and more adapted to being the new Dark One._  
With Rumple still being in a coma, Regina had continued to teach Emma magic, which by all means wasn’t easy. Whenever Emma felt strong emotions her magic lashed out. So far she hadn’t hurt anyone seriously. She had however blasted Hook into a wall one time, because he didn’t seem to understand the word no. Hood had pleaded with Regina for weeks to let Zelena in his care and out of her prison. Regina had eventually given in, trying to be the ‘good’ guy. But then things had gotten awfully wrong. Apparently Robin had been working with Zelena all along.  
Emma had been following them for a while and when the duo tried to kill Regina Emma’s powers kicked in and she knocked their lights out. Regina was however fatally wounded and in her panic Emma teleported them to the only other practitioner of magic in town: the Blue Fairy.  
But the nun didn’t see any possibility to save the former Queen, since she couldn’t heal Regina without a significant amount of fairydust she just didn't possess and Emma wouldn’t be able to either, because she was now dark and only light magic had the power to heal. Being the stubborn woman she always was Emma tried anyway, not wanting to lose her…friend.  
To her astonishment she managed to heal the other woman, but not quite as she expected…

 

**Chapter one:**

 

Emma Swan, Savior of Storybrooke, daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming and new Dark One stood in the Blue Fairy’s office and gaped flabbergasted at the sight before her.

The child stared right back at her, big brown eyes shimmering with unshed tears. Her dark hair flowed in soft waves over her bare shoulders. She had slipped out of Regina’s now too big blouse and trousers and was only wearing her dark camisole, which looked more like a dress on the little girl.

Emma ripped her gaze away from the terrified little girl standing before her and looked at the blue fairy. As soon as her eyes had left the girl, she darted in a corner of the room, hiding under a side table.

“What did I do?”

The Nun shrugged her shoulders and regarded the little brunette with interest.

“Well, Dark One, it seems like you saved the mayor’s life.”

“But – but she’s a-“

“A child, yes I can see that. It is likely that you have some light magic left inside of you after all. And this light magic somehow guided the power of your dark magic to try to heal her. But since you don’t seem to be in total control of your powers…” She gestured at the approximately six year old, “ _This_ happened.”

Emma was baffled. “So, I reverted her back into a kid?” when Blue nodded Emma asked anew. “So how do we reverse it?”

“I don’t know, Sherriff. Maybe we can’t.”

“What?” Emma hissed at the fairy. “She can’t stay a child forever!”

Blue narrowed her eyes at the blonde. “Seems like you are very eager to get the Queen back.”

Emma clenched her teeth, “Of course I am, she is my friend and my son’s other mother.”

“Well, if that’s the case I’m going to do research on the matter, but I am going to need more information from Regina.”

Regina. It felt so wrong to hear the scared little girl called by that name. _Maybe because this is not your Regina_ a voice in Emma’s head supplied. _No, not_ my _Regina. Just- the Regina I know._ She focused on Blue again.

“Well, I don’t think she will tell us anything while she’s hiding under that table.”

Emma sighed and slowly made her way over to Regina’s hideout. She crouched down and smiled at the little girl who was hugging her knees.

“Hi, kid. Don’t be scared, no one is gonna hurt you. My name is Emma. Can you tell me your name?”

“Regina.” She whispered so softly that Emma nearly didn’t hear her.

“Hello, Regina. Do you know the names of your parents?”

The brown haired girl nodded.

“My daddy’s name is Henry. And my mother’s is Cora.”

Emma smiled encouragingly at her. “That’s good. Do you live in the Enchanted Forest?”

Regina nodded.

“Okay. How old are you, Regina?”

“I’m six. Can I go back to my daddy now?” she asked, looking at her feet.

Emma stomach clenched painfully. 

“Very soon, kiddo. Do you want to come with me until then? We can do lots of fun stuff like playing in the park or going to the beach and uh, eating ice cream.” 

Little Regina frowned and Emma could see the old Regina so clearly in that expression. “What’s ice cream?”

“Uh- It’s something to eat. A treat, it’s very delicious.” Slowly, little Regina crept out of her hideout and took Emma’s offered hand. 

“Excuse me, where do you think you are going with her?” an irritated Blue asked. It wasn’t lost on Emma how Regina pressed herself tightly against the Sherriff’s jean clad leg at the Nun’s outburst.

“I am going to take care of her until we find a way to reverse the spell. It’s my mess and I’m gonna fix it.” 

And with that she scooped the girl up in her arms and carried her out of the Covent.

“I don’t like that Lady.” Little Regina murmured against Emma’s neck and the blonde put a hand on the small of her back. “I don’t either. But she can help us get you back to your parents”

“I don’t either. But she can help us get you back to your parents”

Suddenly the girl sucked in a sharp breath. “Mother won’t be pleased that I ran away.”

Emma turned her head to look at the six year old. “Hey. You didn’t run away, it was an accident. This isn’t your fault.”

Regina didn’t answer and instead began playing with one of Emma’s golden locks.

In that moment a car passed them and Regina got scared. For the first time she took in the paved street, the different houses and noises before she began crying.

“Hey, little one. Shhhh, it’s okay. It is just a car. You’re safe, you’re safe with me.” Emma cooed while rocking her back and forth. She wanted to just poof them home but that would probably upset the girl even more, so instead she opted to walk a little faster.

_This is going to be more difficult than I thought._

_\------------------------_

When they finally arrived at 108 Mifflin Street Regina was passed out in Emma’s arms and the blonde laid her on a couch in the den before tucking her in a blanket.

Then she called her parents.

“ _Regina’s what?”_ Snow almost shouted over the phone.  
  
“Her six-year-old self. I kinda messed up. Blue is looking for a cure as we speak. Did David lock the two bastards up?”

_“I am sorry, Emma. They weren’t there anymore when your father arrived. He searched the whole area but came up empty. The good news is that they probably left the town already and without the Snow Queens scroll they won’t be able to come back.”_

“We should keep looking anyways. Just to be sure.”

“ _Of course, darling. Is there anything we can do for you?”_

“Yes, could you bring Henry over this evening and explain everything to him?”

_“Sure, no problem. He was very worried about his mothers. We’ll be there at 7”_

_“_ Thanks Mom. Oh, one last thing: Where is the little one, Roland?”

“ _He is with little John and the other merry men at the moment. They said they’d take care of him for awhile.”_

“Good. That’s good. He didn’t deserve to be dragged into this”

She disconnected the call and went to pour herself a drink from Regina’s extensive collection.  
  
She sat on her usual place at the kitchen island, smiling at the fact that she did in fact have a usual spot at the Mills household. She looked over to the fridge where Regina had pinned the chores table for Henry as well as a few photos.

They were mostly of Henry, one or two with Regina in the picture as well, but then her gaze fell on a very recent addition Emma hadn’t seen before, though she remembered the day it was taken.

Henry needed to make a science project for school and Emma and Regina had agreed to help him. It was the simple Baking Soda Volcano Experiment but somehow Emma and Henry had messed up and ended up with fake lava all over their hair and face. They had laughed and made faces at each other and for a short time it felt like they were just a normal family. 

Now she looked at the photo of her and her son grinning at each other like fools, covered in red goo. She hadn’t even known that Regina had taken a picture. Her smile grew even wider. Regina wasn’t such a hardass after all. She apparently even liked the blonde enough to put her on her fridge. That had to mean something, right? At least to Emma it did. It meant belonging somewhere, being part of something, having a family.

At least to Emma it did. It meant belonging somewhere, being part of something, having a family. _Wait. Regina, my family? What the hell is wrong with you, Swan? You’re Henry’s other mother, of course he would want your picture on the fridge._ But she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was more than that.

She heard tiny footsteps coming towards the kitchen and a few moments later, little Regina poked her head inside. “Excuse me, Miss Emma, I was just-“ she fidgeted with the hem of her shirt-turned-dress. Emma smiled. 

“Hungry?”

brown eyes snapped up at her and the girl nodded. Then another train of thought hit the blonde. She didn’t know the first thing about raising small children. She couldn’t even cook decently. She managed breakfast food and maybe a sandwich but that was it. She looked to the clock. Two in the afternoon.

“Alright. How about a sandwich, huh?”

Luckily Regina’s fridge was completely stocked with everything she needed and after a short while little Regina was happily munching on a sandwich.

Emma realized that the girl needed clothes and a few toys in case it took Blue a few days to figure out a solution to their little problem. Maybe she should ask Belle if she could find anything in Gold’s shop or the library. But first things first: Clothes for little Regina.

“Gina?” Emma asked, the name slipping her lips before she knew. The girl looked at her expectantly, swallowing the last bite of her lunch.

“What do you think about a shopping trip? We’re gonna buy you some clothes that actually fit and if you’re a good girl you even get some toys. What do you say?”

The girl’s shoulders sagged and her voice was timid. “Of course. That would be nice”

Emma frowned. She had said something to upset the girl, but she didn’t know what it was. She decided to simply distract the brunette until she knew.

“Well, come on then. We can get ice cream on our way back” Regina nodded and took Emma’s outstretched hand.

\---------------

Getting The six-year-old in the bug was a bigger struggle than Emma had thought.

She had poofed her bug to the driveway before walking out of the house with the little girl on her hand. But Regina was scared of the “Strange carriage” and didn’t want to get in. It took the Sherriff a while to coax her to climb in, but when they finally drove away, Regina was glued to the window, amazed by every traffic light, sign and other cars.

Emma found the girl absolutely endearing. She couldn’t for the life of her imagine how this shy and careful girl grew to be the terrible Evil Queen everyone feared.

\-----------------------

“Oh my, Sherriff Swan, to what do we owe the pleasure?” The store clerk, a woman in her fifties with light brown hair and eyes asked friendly.

“We need clothes for the kid here.” Emma gestured towards Regina, hiding behind her leg.

The woman knelt down to be on eye level with Regina and smiled at her. “Hello, darling. My name is Claire. And who might you be?”

“My name is Regina.”

The child answered shyly, but keeping her head up to meet the other woman’s eyes. Claire stared at her for a moment before looking up to Emma.

“You mean, like…?”

Emma sighed. “Yes, unfortunately. It was an accident.”

“Oh my.” Then Claire smiled at Regina. “Well, darling, how about we find you something better to wear.”

“Why did she call you Sherriff Swan?” Regina asked Emma while they followed the woman to the back of the shop where the changing room was.

“That’s my name. Emma Swan. Like yours is Regina-”

“Mills.” The girl offered.

Emma smiled. “Right. And I am the Sherriff around here, do you know what that is?”

The girl shook her head.

“It’s someone who watches out for the people of this town and makes sure everyone follows the rules.”

Regina nodded. “Even me?” She wanted to know.

Emma felt that this was a very serious question for little Regina. “Especially you. I wouldn’t let anything bad happen to you.” She laid a hand on Regina’s small shoulder.

“Swan is a very pretty name. It suits you.” She stated and Emma couldn’t help but grin at the girl.

“Can you change on your own or do you need help, darling?” The clerk wanted to know when they caught up to her.

“I can do it on my own” Regina said and Claire moved to get her dresses and skirts en masse and Regina happily tried every single one on.

Emma couldn’t resist taking pictures of the child, twirling in front of a mirror in a rosy dress with dark pink stockings. It was so un- Regina like to see her so…carefree. She opened up more and more and after one and a half hours she turned to the store owner:

“Claire do you have riding clothes too?”

“Well, I don’t have riding trousers, but I have a lot of jeans if you like to try those on.”

“What are those?” the girl asked, skeptical of everything new.

“They’re like the ones I’m wearing.” Emma offered. “they are super comfortable, you’ll see.”

She seemed to contemplate a moment before nodding. “Alright.”

Regina turned out to _really_ like jeans. So after another hour Emma ended up buying more jeans than skirts and Regina now sported dark blue jeans and black converse paired with a light purple long sleeve shirt with little pink hearts all over it.

 

Their next stop was the toy store and Regina’s eyes shone brighter than Emma had ever seen and when the Sheriff told her to pick out what she wanted as long as it wasn’t too much, Regina squealed and took off in a flash.

The blonde chuckled and pushed the shopping cart after the girl, feeling like she would need it.

The cart was indeed filled in record time with puzzles, crayons, watercolors and a few stuffed toys as well as her personal extra pink and extra sparkling backpack Regina insisted on having to “Put all my new things in it when Daddy comes and picks me up”.

Emma needed to think of a better excuse why her Dad couldn’t pick her up. She was still mulling over it when Regina came running out of an aisle, her hands clutching a packaging.

“May I please have this one too?” She asked with big, big eyes.

“What is it, munchkin?”

Regina handed Emma her new found treasure. It was a Barbie of Swan Lake doll.

“See?” Regina said. “She’s a pretty Swan princess, just like you.”

“Of course you can have it, Sweetheart” Emma croaked out, not knowing why her voice was breaking or her throat was closing up.

Little Regina flashed her a brilliant smile and hugged her tight, her head resting on Emma’s stomach. Emma embraced the little girl just as tight, blinking back a few tears.

She had never hugged Regina before. Probably because they both weren’t the touchy-feely kind of people, except with Henry. There had been the occasional brush of fingers or hands laying on arms and shoulders, but they never hugged. The blonde found that she really wanted to do that.

Maybe one day. One day soon.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone!
> 
> Thank you so much for all your kind reviews. Again, I am sorry about the messy editing in chapter 1.
> 
> Mwah!

 

Chapter 2

 

It was half past six when Emma and Regina arrived at the mansion.

The girl was so happy that she didn't even realize that they hadn't stopped to get ice cream like Emma had suggested before.

She eagerly helped the blonde carrying all her new belongings into her house and upstairs into a guest bedroom Emma had quickly declared "Regina's room" since she couldn't let the child sleep in the master bedroom.

Emma didn't want Regina to know about her future/past self to avoid upsetting her.

When everything was put away Little Regina cleared her throat.

"I need to use the bathroom"

"Sure. Come on I'll show you."

The blonde led her to the guest bathroom. But as soon as they stepped foot in it Regina's eyes nearly bulged out of her head. Emma mentally slapped herself. Of course the child didn't know what a water closet looked like.

_They didn't have plumbing in the Enchanted forest, idiot._

So Emma calmly explained everything to Regina, who looked mortified when Emma showed her how to flush the toilet.

But the girl eventually believed Emma that this bizarre concoction was indeed safe to use.

That's when Emma heard the doorbell ring.

"Are you gonna be alright, munchkin?" she asked. "I need to get the door. Ou- My son is coming home."

She internally cursed herself for her almost slip, but Regina didn't seem to notice. Regina nodded affirmatively and Emma sprinted down to open the door.

 

Henry flung himself in her arms as soon as the door was open.

"Ma, I'm so glad you are okay. How's Mom?"

"Uh, it's best not to call her that for the time being, kid. And nothing about the whole Evil Queen and all that crap, ok?"

Henry nodded solemnly.

"Hi, Emma." Mary Margret gave her daughter a quick peck on the cheek which Emma condoned quietly.

"We brought you guys take out from Granny's on our way here. I figured you would have your hands full."

She added and peeked around her daughter into the house.

"Hello, Angel."

She smiled and Emma turned around to see Regina hovering on the stairs, regarding the newcomers critically.

Henry stared at this younger version of his mother like he couldn't believe what he saw. He probably really couldn't and who could blame him?

Emma realized that she had to say something so she put out her hand and said:

"Gina, this is my mom, Sn- Mary Margaret."

Regina had walked towards Emma and did a perfect curtsy.

"Nice to meet you." She greeted.

Emma could tell that Snow instantly fell in love with this adorable girl.

"Honey, there is no need to curtsy, we don't do that in this land."

The child looked at her quizzical.

"Then how am I supposed to greet you?"

Emma smiled. Apparently Regina had always been very smart.

Snow held out her hand.

"You can shake my hand if you like?"

Regina tentatively took the offered hand and shook it.

Now Henry couldn't hold back any longer.

"Hi, Gina." he said, bending down to be on eyelevel with her, like his mother had done countless times for him.

"Who are you?" she asked, looking at him curiously.

A breath caught in his throat and Emma knew what he had wanted to say.

" _I'm your son!"_

 _B_ ut instead he answered:

"I'm Emma's kid. My name is Henry"

At that Regina perked up.

"My Daddy's name is Henry, too!"

Henry swallowed hard, but managed to smile at his mother nevertheless

"Wow. I guess it is a really pretty name, so..."

"Do you live here too?" His brunette mother asked.

Henry nodded.

"Yes I do. We're all family now."

His gaze caught Emma's and the deeper meaning of his words wasn't lost on her.

Regina clapped her little hands together.

"Then you can play with me!"

"I'd like that. But maybe we can have dinner first?"

The brown eyed girl nodded eagerly.

"Yes, yes. Emma, Can we have dinner now?"

"Yeah, kiddo. Why don't you and Henry set the table, I'll just say goodbye to Mary Margaret."

When Henry had taken his mother by the hand and led her to the kitchen, Snow gushed:

"Oh gods, Emma, she is so adorable. I want to dress her up and do her hair and—"

"Whoa, easy there, Mom. She's a kid, not a doll."

Snow still had that weird fixation on a pre Evil Queen Regina, that she had never really lost. She would talk about how beautiful the girl was and how brave and fearless to save her from that runaway horse. Her father had told Emma once that Snow had indeed hated Regina at some point in time, but at the same time had never stopped loving her.

_So seeing her as a innocent little girl must be hard for her too._

"Yes I know." Her mother pouted, "And I talked to Blue an hour ago. She told me about an ancient potion that could revert Regina back to her adult self."

"Great. Where's the catch?"  
  
"She doesn't know how to make it. But she will get there."

"Yeah sure. I'm gonna ask Belle for help tomorrow. Maybe she knows something about that potion. I remember my Regina telling me about the potion Gold used to make Pinocchio age back to August. So he has to know how to undo this, but that fucker is still in coma and I get to bear this darn curse for him."

"Didn't you do that to save _your_ Regina?" Snow smiled at her knowingly.

"What, No! I mean, yes, kinda, but – I don't know. Stop asking me questions!"

Snow White sighed and rubbed her daughter's arm affectionately.

"I am sure you will figure this out. And I don't mean the spell thing."

And without another word the dark haired woman turned around and Emma was left alone on Regina's porch wondering what the hell just happened.

* * *

 

Dinner proceeded fairly peaceful with little Regina throwing her table manners out the window after the first fry in her short life and Henry recorded all of it with his cellphone.

"Your mother is going to kill you when she see's this."

Emma whispered to him while cleaning the table.

Regina was currently munching the last of her fries, hair, face and fingers sticky with ketchup.

Her boy just shrugged.

"Na, I'm her little prince, I'm fine. You on the other hand-"

The smirk he gave her was one hundred percent Regina and Emma couldn't help but smile at that realization.  
  
Then she turned to a completely messy but happy Regina.

"Munchkin, I think we need to give you a bath before we go to bed. You even have ketchup in your hair."

The girl giggled adorably and held her Barbie up so Emma could see her.

"Can Odette come? She needs to be bathed too."

"Of course, Gina. Come on."

The child scooted from her chair and, as always, took Emma's hand.

Before they left the room, the blonde turned to her son.

"Henry, you can watch a movie or something but when Gina is asleep you are going to bet as well."

"Maaaaaaa, I'm not a five year old." He whined.

"I am six and you should listen to your mother, Henry." Regina answered, lifting her chin proudly.

"You heard her, champ. Listen to your mother"

Emma chuckled and let little Regina upstairs to the guest bathroom.

* * *

 

"Do you want bubbles?" the Sherriff asked while searching through adult Regina's massive shampoo collection.

"Yes, please." Came the soft answer.

She poured everything in and turned to look at the still dressed brunette.

"What's wrong, Gina?"

The girl didn't answer and instead looked at her feet.

Emma knelt down in front of her.

"You can tell me, munchkin."

"I'm scared."

"Okay. Can you tell me what scares you?"

When Regina didn't answer, Emma pushed further.

"The bath?"

A shake of her head.

Emma remembered her time in the foster system and what could happen to little girls in a bath- or bedroom. She swallowed hard and asked in a soft whisper:

"Are you scared of me?"

She breathed a sigh of relieve when the girl shook her head again.

"I'm scared of mother." Regina whispered, still inspection the bathroom tiles.

Emma's heart clenched painfully. Fucking Cora. What had she done now?

"Why are you scared of Cora? She isn't here, sweetheart."

Silence.

"You can trust me, you know? I'm going to protect you. I am the Sherriff, remember?"

She heard a soft and shaky exhale from the brunette before little arms pulled her shirt over her head and shimmied out of her jeans. Finally she raised her head and Emma saw tears glistening in those deep chocolate orbs. Then she turned around and Emma couldn't hold back a shocked gasp.

Over Regina's entire back and thighs was a crisscross pattern of angry red lines. Some were light pink, almost fading, but the majority was still fresh, maybe a day or two old. They were too small for a belt and deeper.

_A whip maybe?_

The analytic part in Emma's brain deducted.

She remembered being beat up and neglected by foster families, but Emma had always told herself that her real parents would've never done that. They would've loved her, like parents were supposed to do.

Anger bubbled inside of her stomach and she felt her magic rushing through her veins, prickling in her fingertips. All she wanted was to resurrect Cora only to kill her over and over again for everything she had done to this little girl and to the woman she would become.

Darkness filled every cell in her body and screamed: _Kill her, make them pay. Make them all pay!_

"Emma?"

Regina's shaky voice brought her back.

She closed her eyes and counted to ten in her head.

And then to twenty. And thirty.

Finally she felt the anger retracting to the back of her mind where it always stayed. Always lurking to jump back out and consume her.

"Do you hate me now?"

That question through Emma completely off track again.

"What? No! Gina, no I could never hate you"

She rounded the girl and knelt before her again.

"This isn't your fault. You did nothing to deserve this, okay?"

She took Regina's hands in hers.

"I did. I climbed a tree and ripped my new dress." The girl confessed quietly.

"That doesn't make it okay. I promise you, I will never hurt you, Gina, never. You can trust me."

A strangled cry escaped the brunette's lips before she flung herself in Emma's arms, clinging to her as if her life depended on it.

"Shhh, it's okay, baby. It's going to be alright." Emma said, gently stroking her head, while her own eyes stung with unshed tears.

She just wanted Regina's pain to go away. For her to be healthy and happy. God knew the girl deserved it.

Emma felt her magic tingling and before she knew what was happening, silver-grey sparks of magic flew out of the blondes fingertips, dancing down Regina's spine, healing her injuries and making her scars fade away.

Huh? That was interesting.

The girl didn't even seem to notice but eventually let go of Emma.

The blonde managed a smile.

"So how about a bath now, huh?"

* * *

 

When they were done and Regina had changed in her new pajamas, Emma tucked her in.

"My room is just next door if you need anything, pumpkin."

"uh-hu." Regina said, inspecting the duvet, her small hands laying in her lap.

Emma looked at the little girl, in a too large, foreign bed in a foreign house, hell in a whole different _land._

For a moment Emma saw herself in that little lost girl all alone in the world. How she had wished that someone, anyone at all had cared about her, had stayed by her side so she wouldn't have to be on her own.

"Do you think it would be okay if I stayed with you for little while?"

The child looked up at her then with wide eyes.

"Really? That would be very nice."

So Emma climbed into the bed next to Gina.

For a while they said nothing. Partly because Emma didn't really know what to say and partly because it was comforting to just _be_ there.

"Emma? I know I'm much too old for this and I swear I never ask of it at home, but… Could you – would you maybe sing me a song?"

"Gina, you're never too old for that. If you feel like you need that then it's perfectly alright. But I'm really not good at singing. How about I tell you a story instead?"

The girl nodded eagerly. Emma opened her arms and when Regina had nestled into the blonde's arms she began telling the only bedtime story she knew by heart:

"Once there was a baby star.  
She lived up near the sun.  
And every night at bedtime, that baby star wanted to have some fun.  
She would shine and shine and fall and shoot and twinkle, oh so bright.  
And she said,  
" _Mommy, I'll run away if you make me say good night._ "  
And then her mommy kissed her on her sparkly nose and said,  
" _No matter where you go, no matter where you are, no matter how big you grow, and even if you stray far, I'll love you forever, 'cause you'll always be my baby star_ _."_

She looked at the small figure beside her. Her eyes were closed and her breathing even.

Carefully she extracted herself from the brunette's grip and tip toed to the door, putting out the lights, whispering

"Goodnight, sweetheart"

Before she closed the door she heard the soft reply

"Goodnight, Emma."

 

Her next stop was Henry's room.

Her boy sat on his bed, some kind of album laid out before him.

"Hey, kid, you okay?"

Henry looked up.

"I don't know."

Emma sighed and sat beside him.

"She almost got _killed,_ Ma. We almost lost her and now she-she's…"

_We. He said we almost lost her._

"She's alive Henry. And she's going to be okay." She draped her arm around his shoulders and wondered for a moment when they had become so large.

"I know. But it reminded me of when we came back from New York. She was there, _right there_ and I didn't recognize her. And now it's the other way around."

Emma didn't know what to say. Even after all this time being Henry's mom and she had no idea how to comfort her son.

_Regina would know what to do._

"I miss her too, kid."

They sat like that for a little while before Henry chuckled and held up a photo from the album.

It showed Henry around the age little Gina now was, dressed up as Batman for Halloween.

"Mom made that costume herself. I wanted to be Batman so bad. I even practiced the voice. She went out to go trick or treating with me. I wanted her to be Robin but she really didn't want to."

Emma couldn't help but smile.

"I bet you got three times as much candy as the other kids."

"The people were terrified. I was so happy cause I thought my costume was so scary, but I bet it was Mom's death glare."

They both giggled.

"We're getting her back, I promise."

Emma kissed Henry on the head.

"Try to get some sleep, you have school tomorrow."

He groaned and threw himself face first in his pillow.

"I thought you were the Cool-Mom."

"Hey! I am _very_ cool."

 

After Emma had closed the door smiling it occurred to her that she had no other clothes with her. Sighing she added getting her stuff on her mental to-do-list and went into the master bedroom.

Standing in this room felt strange.

She couldn't help but think of herself like some kind of intruder. She had never been there before.

Emma took everything in: From the very expensive, very soft looking linen on Regina's bed, to the vanity and the Recamier. A beige blouse with one of Regina's signature bordering on indecent necklines hung over the armrest.

And suddenly it was just all too much.

Regina scent that lingered in the air, the only half opened curtains, one of her closet doors still open to reveal her massive pantsuit collection.

No she couldn't stay here.

Not when everything screamed Regina, despite the fact that she was gone. Well, actually Regina was just in a room down the hall but at the same time it felt like she wasn't there at all.

She promptly left the room, closing the door behind her and decided she would sleep in the mansion's second guest room instead.

* * *

 

A cry woke her in the middle of the night. _Gina._

Within seconds Emma was wide awake, charging to the room next door.

Little Regina was thrashing around in her bed and crying.

Gently Emma sat on the mattress, stroking the brunette's hair.

"Gina, wake up."

When that didn't seem to work the blonde laid a hand on her little shoulder and shook it.

"Gina"

That seemed to do the trick, because brown eyes snapped open and the girl sat up, scrambling away from Emma's touch.

"No, please, I'll be good!"

Emma's heart broke. The girl was clearly still disoriented and had thought she would harm her. She put her hands in front of her, palms up.

"Gina, it's me, Emma. You're safe, honey, you're safe."

"Emma?"

"Yes, sweety it's me. You're okay."

When the child started sobbing uncontrollably, Emma gently pulled her in her arms and held her tight, whispering softly in her ear.

After what felt like an eternity, the girl had calmed down enough to speak, while still sitting in Emma's lap.

"I-I'm s-orry I woke you" she whispered.

"Darling, that's alright. I'm glad you woke me up. I want you to know that you can always come to me, okay? With whatever it is, just come and get me."

She felt the brunette nodding.

"Do you want to talk about your nightmare?"

"No."

"That's fine. Do you want to go back to sleep then?"

"No. Then I will be back there. I don't wanna."

"How about I stay here with you? Make sure those dreams don't come back."

The girl smiled a little and nestled deeper into Emma's embrace.

"Cause you're the Sherriff and you protect me."

Emma carefully laid back, pulling the blanket over both of them.

"Yes, munchkin."

 _No_ she thought _I protect you because I love you._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story Emma is telling Regina is from Criminal minds season 7 episode 7.
> 
> Let me know what you think in the comments! Until next time ;)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys ☺  
> sorry that this one is a little shorter than usual, but I didn’t want to keep you waiting. By the way, would you like shorter chapters and more frequent updates or longer chapter but with a longer wait?  
> Let me know!  
> Mwah!

**Tuesday**

“Henry, hurry up you’re going to be late for school! Again.”

“Coming!”

He shouted and a second later Emma heard him running down the stairs.

“Here, I made you lunch.”

She pushed a lunchbox in his hands. When Regina was back to herself and she found out Emma had sent Henry to school without a (relatively) healthy lunch she was going to kill her for the uh about fourth time then.

“Can I have lunch money too? Just in case?”

He smiled cheekily at her.  
Reaching into her pocket to fumble out some banknotes she answered: “Brat. Here you go”

Then she turned around.

“Gina, you ready? We’re dropping Henry off at school and then we’re going to get breakfast!”

The girl came running out of the living room.

“Sorry. I almost forgot Odette”

Regina wore a light blue shirt and a dark blue ruffled skirt with a checked pattern. She had exchanged the converse with a pair of ballerinas.

Apparently Regina had always had a sense of style, even as a six-year-old.

“Well, we can’t let that happen. Come on guys.”

 

* * *

 

After they had dropped off Henry, Regina had waved at him until he was in the school building and then they drove to Granny’s for the promised breakfast.

Emma knew that the residents would sooner or later start talking about the Sherriff and the little girl attached to her hand. So she figured she would beat them to it.

 

They entered the diner hand in hand and like Emma foresaw, everyone in the diner stared at them. The blonde noticed little Regina hiding behind her leg.

“Come on people, knock it off, nothing to see here.”

Granny admonished, coming out of the kitchen. When she laid eyes on the two newest patrons she froze.

“Eugenia!”

The otherwise shy girl nearly squealed and took off running to Granny, throwing herself in the older woman’s arms.

Granny smiled and hugged her tight.

“Hello lil’ pup.”

“I’ve missed you.”

The girl mumbled in her apron.

“I missed you too.”

“Mother said, you didn’t want to be my governess anymore, because I was a bad girl and you didn’t like me no more.”

“Peanut, of course I like you. Very much. I just – my granddaughter needed me and I couldn’t stay. I am so very sorry, Regina.” Granny said sincerely.

“It’s alright. Now that I have you back again.” Finally the brunette girl released Granny from her hug.

Emma marched the short distance to the pair.

“Granny, what’s going on here?”

A very confused Ruby, who had previously stood behind the counter, couldn’t stay silent anymore. This was too surreal.  

“Regina, this is my granddaughter Ruby.” Mrs. Lucas explained.

Ruby looked at her Granny and at Emma with an unspoken question. Emma nodded. So Ruby bent down and extended her hand.

“Hi, sweety.”

Regina shook the offered hand, her gaze falling on the red strands in the waitresses’ hair.

“I like your hair, it’s very pretty. Is red your favorite color?”

“Yes it is. What is yours, blue?” Ruby grinned at her

“No. Mine is green. Like the forest or a meadow or…” The child tried to think of other green things she liked and looked at Emma.

“Or like Emma’s eyes.”

Emma somehow managed to look both flattered and totally shell-shocked.

_What’s the matter with you, Swan? It’s not like it was adult Regina who said that. It’s just an innocent comparison from a little kid. Wait, does adult Regina still like my eyes? Oh God, get a grip. It doesn’t even matter if she likes your eyes, what the hell is wrong with you?_

Ruby’s laughter brought her back. Granny put a hand on the brunette’s head.

“You want a milkshake, lil' pup? Do you still like Strawberry?”

“Yes, please”

“And pancakes?”

A beaming smile lit up the brunette's face and she nodded.

“Thank you!”

Emma cleared her throat and Eugenia looked up to her. In the meantime the diner guests all pretended to go on with their own conversations but Eugenia knew they were still listening.

“Peanut, I’m gonna have to talk to the Sherriff for a moment. Are you alright with Ruby taking care of you?”

The girl nodded and took the older brunettes outstretched hand.

The two adults went into the kitchen and Ruby brought Regina her breakfast.

She let the little girl sit on the counter while she fixed coffee orders from a few patrons.

Emma made sure that no one could hear them before she hissed:

“What the hell was _that_? You were Regina’s nanny?! How come we’ve never heard of that before?!”

Eugenia Lucas just shrugged her shoulders.

“Didn’t seem to me that any of you particularly cared about that. And what difference would it make? I wasn’t even sure if Regina herself remembered and now I’m still not sure. Maybe her adult self forgot.”

Emma crossed her arms in front of her chest, leaning back against a wall.

“Well, now I care. What happened back then?”

Granny sighed.

“Regina’s father, Henry Senior, was the one who selected me to take care of Regina. Cora had always wanted a governess that was more…noble. She was very strict. Didn’t want the girl to play and be a child, you know? So she wasn’t very happy with me, not that I cared. I got paid and Regina was an angel. I taught her how to walk and talk and we made apple pie nearly every day.”

Emma smiled.

“Apples, huh?”

Granny chuckled.

“Always.”

Then she grew serious again.

“When Regina got older, Cora wanted to improve her education, to make her a ‘proper lady’. And when Regina refused, because she preferred being outside picking flowers, going swimming and climbing trees over learning etiquette and having tea time she punished her.”

Emma’s mind flashed to the angry red marks on the quivering back of the child that would grow into the Evil Queen.

“So when I confronted her about it, she fired me. She knew about Ruby, who had just been born then and her wolf and threatened to find her if I ever made contact with Regina again. I had to make a choice, I had to protect my granddaughter and I left a helpless little girl behind. If she remembers it is no wonder that she hates me.”

Emma thought about it. She thought about how everyone had been separated from their families by the curse except Ruby and her Granny. How the curse had prevented Ruby from wolfing out every month.

“I don’t think she hates you, Granny.”

Emma comforted the old woman and she believed every word she said.

“I really don’t. Maybe you two should talk when all of this is over?”

Granny Lucas just nodded.

“And if you ever need someone to watch her while you are at work or something, just give me a call.”

“I will.”

The blonde nodded and went back to the diner.

“Munchkin, we have to go now.”

Regina hopped off the counter with Ruby’s help and waved Granny goodbye before attaching herself to Emma’s hand again.

  
They were about to leave the diner when they nearly ran into Doctor Whale.

He looked at Regina menacingly.

“So the rumors are true. She doesn’t look so intimidating now, does she?”

Emma felt the familiar anger bubble up inside of her again.

“Back off, Whale” she gnarled.

Regina stared at the man with wide eyes, looking equal parts confused and terrified. 

“I didn’t think you would be so hostile, Sherriff. I’m merely saying that there are many bad things that can happen to little girls in this world.”

He grinned coldly at Emma.

The blonde all but growled at him, baring her teeth.

“If you lay a hand on her I’ll end you, bastard”

He just smiled smugly.

“Well, there is the Dark One everyone fears so much.”

“D-Dark One?” a timid voice asked.

Emma’s head snapped to the scared girl that had suddenly let go of her hand.

“Yes, _dear,_ Emma Swan is the Dark One now. And she can’t even control her magic. She’s a threat to everyone in town, really.”

“Dark magic?”

“Oh, yes” Frankenstein chuckled. “As dark as it gets.”

Regina trembled, tears glistening in her eyes.

Emma wanted to comfort the girl, to assure her she didn’t mean her any harm but when she made a step towards her, the brunette bolted out of the open diner door while Whale laughed.

“Better hurry up before she gets herself killed!”

At that the blonde snapped.

“Shut up!”

She snarled and punched the Doctor in the face.

Hard. 

He stumbled and nearly fell but Emma couldn’t care less as she was already halfway out the door.

It took her only 10 minutes to find the child.

Regina hadn’t come very far, she sat on the sidewalk a few blocks away.

This time, Emma was more careful.

“Regina?”

She asked when she neared the girl.

Her head whipped around, her face red from crying and fear so evident in her eyes it made Emma’s heart ache. She stopped two steps away from the girl, her hands raised to her shoulders in surrender.

“I’m not going to hurt you, sweetie. I promise.”

“It’s true isn’t it? What the scary man said. You are the Dark One. The Fairy called you that too. I remember now.”

Emma sighed. “Yes, yes it’s true, but I am not a bad guy okay?”

Regina sat stock still.

“But you have magic, dark magic. And- mo-mother has magic too and her’s is bad.” Emma wondered how desperate young Regina must have been to learn magic from

Emma wondered how desperate young Regina must have been to learn magic from Rumplestiltskin when she was so clearly afraid of it.

“I know. I know. But mine, it’s different. I had light magic before, good magic, you know. And it is still inside of me, along with the dark magic. And I am not the Dark One you heard of. That one is…gone. I know you don’t have a lot of people in your life you can trust, but you can trust me. I won’t hurt you.”

When the girl didn’t respond Emma pushed a little harder.

“Can I sit with you?”

Regina nodded.

So Emma sat down next to her, her hands in her lap. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Regina finally spoke up:

“How did you get dark?”

Oh.

Emma pondered for a few moments.

_I promised you I’d find your happy ending, because you got screwed over your whole life and I sacrificed myself for you so you could be happy and the man who was supposed to make you happy betrayed you and tried to kill you and I wasn’t there to save you. Because everything I do is fail you time and time again. But not this time._

“I – I tried to protect someone who is very important to me.”

“You did something good and you get punished? That doesn’t sound fair.”

“It isn’t. Life isn’t fair.”

She thought about Granny and Ruby and Regina and about her parents and herself and Henry.

“You will have to make choices in life that aren’t fair, no matter what you choose. And you will have to live with them. But sometimes you get to make one that is worth the hurt.”

“Was yours worth it?”

Emma looked at the child in front of her. The dark brown waves of hair, the chocolate colored eyes, her concentrating frown.

“Totally worth it.”

“I’m sorry I ran away.” Regina offered.

“I’m sorry, too. I should have explained that to you sooner.”

They smiled at each other.

“I wanted to see a friend today, but how about we both go get that the ice cream I promised you yesterday first?”

* * *

 

It was a short walk to the ice cream parlor.

When Ingrid had died, no one had known what to do with the business. That was until Ashley announced that she needed to work again and waiting tables at Granny’s wasn’t going to cut it. So she, along with her new business partner Aurora, had reopened the parlor.

Regina’s eyes widened comically as she took everything in.

From the pastel colors of the décor to the delicious looking treats behind the glass counter.

“Hi, Ashley. Where’s Aurora?”

Emma greeted the younger blonde with a smile.

“Oh, she is watching Philip and Alexandra. We’re taking turns.”

Her gaze went from Emma down to the little brunette that nowadays accompanied the savior almost everywhere.

“And you must be Regina.”

She smiled at the girl. She had never been a fan of Regina’s, but they were always civil towards each other now and Ashley had a big soft spot for children.

“Yes, hello.”

Came the answer, accompanied by a shy smile that made Ashley’s heart melt.

“What can I get the two of you?”

Emma took a Rocky Road with Mango while Regina unsurprisingly chose Strawberry and insisted on Mint Chocolate Chip because “it’s green!”.

As it turned out, Regina loved ice cream and Emma had to remind her to eat slowly and not just shove everything in her mouth at once.

“Where are we going now?”

The child asked, munching on her waffle cone.

“To see a friend of mine. I need her help with something."

“Alright.”

The brunette smiled and happily skipped along the sidewalk beside Emma.

* * *

 

Upon entering the library Regina again just gaped at everything, her mouth hanging slightly open.

She whispered awestruck: “I’ve never seen this many books before.”

As if on cue Belle rounded the corner smiling at the pair.

The towns grape wine had already reached her, too.

“Hi, Emma. Regina.”

“Did you read all these books?” The girl wondered, forgetting her etiquette completely.

Belle smiled despite herself. Her and Regina’s relationship was…'complicated' didn’t quite describe it.

“Most of them, yes.”

Regina sucked in a breath.

“You must be really smart!”

Emma and Belle chuckled.

“Of course she is. That’s why we’re here.” The blonde said, giving the librarian a meaningful look.

Belle sighed but nodded before pulling a few books out of the children’s section.

She handed them to Regina who looked like she’s been handed the holy grail.

“You can look at them over there, Belle and I will be right here.” Emma told her.

When the girl was out of earshot Emma explained the situation to Belle.

“And I know Regina screwed you over time and time again and you have every right to be pissed at her. But I don’t trust Blue not to spike the potion with something should she even ever manage to make it. But I trust you. And you know Gold better than anyone so if someone can find out about this potion it’s you. If you won’t do it for Regina, do it for me. Please.”

The brunette sighed again, shaking her head.

“Alright, I’ll look into it. But I can’t promise anything. And I’m only doing this so I can hex her myself.”

Emma smiled. “Thanks. I owe you.”

She turned around to get Regina but stopped and turned back to the other woman.

“And Belle, I know you’re doing this because you’re a good person.”

She smiled and went over to little Regina, who seemed to be completely engrossed by a book.

“Hey, munchkin. Watcha reading?”

Regina looked up.

“Pippi Longstocking. She is really strong and she has a horse!”

Emma grinned down at her.

“That sounds amazing. But you have to finish it some other time, we have to go home now.”

Regina pouted for a moment but then obediently collected the books and handed them back to Belle. The older brunette gave her back the one about Pippi though.

“Keep it. But you have to bring it back when you are done. And I don’t want to see them damaged.”

A grin lit up the girl’s face and she eagerly nodded.

“Of course. Thank you, Miss Belle.”

Belle looked after them when Emma and Regina left with mixed feelings.

She really, really didn’t like Regina.

She had captured her and held her prisoner for over 28 years for starters.

But she knew just as well that Regina would’ve never done that if not for Rumple.

And Belle truly believed the woman wanted to change for the better, but they couldn’t just erase their past, they had to work through it. If they wanted to, that is.

When Belle thought about that sweet, polite and bright little girl who was so full of wonder and _life,_ she found she wanted to at least _try_.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone!  
> I am so sorry that I kept you guys waiting! I'll try to update as regularly as possible, but sometimes it just doesn't work out...  
> Anyway thanks for reading and as always your thoughts are very much appreciated ;)  
> Mwah!

After their visit at the library, Emma took them both back to Mifflin Street.

The little girl was exhausted when her sugar high ebbed off. So the blonde told her it was now time for a nap.

She tucked Regina into her bed together with Odette and the newly acquired book the girl refused to let out of her sight. 

The blonde sat herself down on one of the very comfortable couches ( _seriously, why did everything have to be so soft in here? Not that she was complaining of course_ ) in Regina’s living room and looked at the clock. Henry wouldn’t be home for at least one and a half hours. She pulled out her phone and called her father. He picked up after the second ring.

“Hi Dad.”

“ _Emma! Is everything okay?_ ”

“Yeah, I don’t know what Regina complained about with Henry. Parenting isn’t that complicated.”

“ _You better knock on wood with that one, Emma_.”

“I just wanted to check in on you. Anything important?”

They both knew she was asking about Robin and Zelena, but somehow she couldn’t formulate the question.

“ _Nothing on Zelena and Hood. I really think they left the town… Poor Roland. The kid must be crushed_.”

‘Crushed’ didn’t cut it in Emma’s opinion, not even close.

First the boy lives his whole life in the woods, which well, isn’t sooo bad but then his mother dies and they get teleported to a whole other _realm_ and then his mom somehow comes back to him but not really, cause she’s the Wicked Witch and Marian really is dead after all. Oh yeah, and his father is a total asshole who left his son all alone. _Fucker._

“ _Oh and there’s another thing_ ” David continued. “ _Someone broke into the hardware store today_ ”

“In brought daylight?”

“ _Apparently_.”

“Do you have evidence? Leads? Something?"

" _Not really no. Doesn't help that we're short staffed. The mayor really should look into that sooner rather than later"_

"I'll let her know after her nap time is over. By the way, you don’t happen to have an idea what I could give the kids to eat for lunch?”

She heard David chuckled on the other line.

“ _Sorry, I’m better with a sword than a pan_ ”

“Yeah, thought so.”

She ended the call and made her way to the kitchen and opened the neatly organized fridge.

“Yes!”

Emma triumphed when she spotted a bunch of Tupperware containers in various shapes and sizes, all labeled with Regina’s elegant handwriting. _Of course Regina is prepared for an entire siege_.

She decided on a big box of Risotto, hoping that little Regina had the same taste as the older one.

* * *

 

“So, little one, whatcha wanna do this afternoon?”

Emma asked, still chewing on the delicious risotto.

Henry had come home when Emma was just setting the table and he and Regina puzzled a while until lunch was finished.

Now Regina looked at her with wide eyes.

“I don’t know. What do you want us to do?”

The blonde had to swallow hard on that last bite.

It occurred to her that Regina probably didn’t have much say in anything in her short life. She forced herself to smile. She would give this little girl everything she was denied as a kid. The childhood they’d both been denied.

“I want you to decide. We’ll do anything you want, ain’t that right, kid?”

Henry nodded his head.

“Jup, it’s totally up to you, little princess”

The brunette seemed to think about that. Playing with her napkin she finally asked: “Can we – go to the building where the children play? The one where there’s trees all around?”

She didn’t look Emma in the eye and continued to study her napkin.

“I think she means the playground in the park.” Henry supplied.

“Wow, geez kid, aren’t you a regular Sherlock Holmes.”

Emma mocked and turned to Regina, becoming serious again.

“Of course we can go to the park, sweetheart.”

The smile she got in return almost blinded her.

* * *

So after they finished eating Emma took the children to the park.

Henry had rummaged around in his closet and found a soccer ball he was now carrying.

They got a few strange looks from some townspeople on their way but no one uttered a single word.

Regina was holding Emma’s hand but apparently couldn’t wait to finally go playing.

They had changed her into a pair of jeans, her chucks and a simple deep red long-sleeved shirt.

“Alright kids, have fun. But Regina, stay with Henry he’s going to show you everything”

Henry took his little mother by the hand and they were off running towards the very climbing castle Regina had let built.

Chuckling Emma seated herself on one of the benches scattered around the playground. She watched as Henry helped Regina climb up to the top, looked on as they built a sandcastle in the sandbox and smiled as Henry showed Regina how to use the swings.

Then they went over to the slides. Henry stood with Regina on the top but apparently the girl was scared. So Emma jogged over to them and positioned herself on the bottom of the slide.

“Come on, Gina, I’ll catch you.”

“Promise?”  
  
“I promise”

The little brunette took a deep breath and slid down the slide right into Emma’s waiting arms who quickly picked her up and spun the giggling girl around and around.

“This was fun! I want to go again!”

Emma laughed, pleased that the child voiced a wish for once.

“Of course you can!”

After several more times (Emma couldn’t resist the pout on the little girls face while Henry grinned knowingly) the girl finally had enough of the slide.

“What do you want to do next?” Emma asked.

The girl looked around with wide, sparkling eyes. Emma mused that she couldn’t decide, all of this was very new to her and Regina apparently wasn’t used on getting asked for her opinion. The girl turned to Henry:

“I don’t know. Henry, what do you want to do?”

The boy smiled down at his mother.  
  
“How about we play some soccer?”  
  
“What is soccer?”

Henry picked up his ball and backpack. He showed her the first item.  
  
“It’s a ball game, it’s very simple. We can play together if you want? Against Ma?”

Regina shot the blonde a questioning glance and she nodded encouragingly.  
  
“Yes, I’d like that.”

 

Henry quickly began scanning the area and soon found a free patch of grass with two trees on one end. He set up everything and met his moms in the middle of the newly declared soccer field.

"What are the rules?" The little girl asked with furrowed brows.

"We have to shoot the ball between those two trees, Emma is going to try to take the ball away from us and to our goal" Henry explained and pointed to his backpack and Emma's jacket sitting on the grass behind them.

"remember you can only touch the ball with your feet."

"i think I understand."

"Okay guys let's do this" Emma clapped her hands together. "Can't wait to beat you"

Suddenly Henry expertly snatched the ball away and started running towards the goal and by the time Emma had managed to shout "hey, unfair!" He had already scored the goal.

"1:0 for us" he shouted and Regina laughed. "Again! Do it again!"

 

This time Henry positioned Regina almost in front of Emma's goal and winked at her.

Emma started and kicked the ball towards her intended goal, but Henry interjected and kicked the ball high and far. it landed in front of Regina's feet.

"Go!"

Little Regina started running and kicked the ball as hard as she could. Emma watched as it slowly but steadily moved towards the trees. She could've surely reached it if she tried but she didn't. Instead she dramatically screamed "Nooooooooo" when the ball finally reached its target. The little brunette squealed in delight, hopping up and down before turning around: "Did you see?! I scored a goal!

"Did you see?! I scored a goal! Henry, we scored a goal!"

And Henry jogged over to her laughing, "Yes we did. Good job, Gina! High five!"

He held his hand up, but Regina looked confused. He explained: "it means you clap your hand on mine. We do this when we win something"  
She nodded and clapped her hand on his and then smiled up at him.

"We're a good team, Henry. don't you think?"

He swallowed. "Yeah we are, Gina. We are."

 

A while later it stood 4:4. Emma had caught up quickly when she realized the kids weren't nearly as easy to beat as she imagined. At this point they were all covered in dirt and grass.

Regina was currently on the ball, Emma hot on her heels. Henry had run before them so Regina could pass him the ball. But Emma quick interjected and went for the ball. Suddenly Regina was lying on the floor rolling around and crying, while holding her foot, the ball rolling away forgotten.

"Oh god! Munchkin, Are you okay? I'm sorry, are you hurt?"

When Emma bent down Regina latched onto Emma's leg and screamed:

"Go Henry go!"

"What?" Emma stared down disbelievingly.

But Henry had already kicked the ball into the goal and yelled: "Victory! Sweet Victory!"

"You're quite the actress, little one!" Emma laughed. The girl looked up at the blonde and giggled. "Thank you"

* * *

 

After that they were all quite exhausted and decided to call it a day, but not before taking a ‘victory-selfie’ as Henry called it. The little brunette was squished between Henry and Emma all with tangled hair, messed up clothes and giant grins on their faces.

 

Back at the mansion Emma once again made use of Regina’s massive food collection in the fridge and heated chicken Paprikash up for them. While the food was heating up, Regina came running to Emma, who was still in the kitchen.

“Emma, Henry said you have ice- uh – ice cream at home. Can we have some? Please!”

“I don’t know munchkin you already had ice cream today.”

She looked at the pouting girl before her and decided on a compromise. _Compromising was important in parenting right?_

“I’ll tell you what: If you’re a good girl and eat your dinner you can have one scoop afterwards.”

Suddenly Regina looked at the floor, her shoulders sagged and she whispered.

“I am sorry, I don’t need any.”

She stood there, not moving a muscle. Emma was confused. She’d seen that kind of behavior on the girl yesterday. What happened?

“Sweetie, what’s wrong? One minute you’re happy and now?”

Still no response. Emma bent down to be on eye-level with the child.

“We talked about this. You can trust me, okay? I promised you, remember?”

“Please don’t punish me, I’ll be good.”

Emma felt like someone had slapped her across the face.

“Why – Why would I ? I would never hurt you, darling. You know that.”

“B-but you said i-if I’d b-be a good girl…Mother always says that. She says I can go outside and play if I’m a good girl, I get dinner if I’m good, but I never am. I always mess up and then I get p-punished.  I don’t even know what I do wrong! But I’m not good and because of that I don’t get things!! I wanna, I – wa-wanna…”

She couldn’t finish her sentence because she was crying too hard. Emma carefully pulled her in her arms, now sitting on the floor with the shaking girl.  
_Fucking Cora. I’m going to travel back in time again and I’m gonna skin her alive_ she knew the darkness was talking again now but she couldn’t care less. She had a little girl to protect.

“Gina, honey, it’s alright. Shhh, it’s okay. Look at me sweetheart, look at me.”

Finally Regina looked up. Emma gently wiped her tears away with her thumbs.

“You are the best, most amazing girl I ever met. No matter what your Mom or anyone else tells you, you are more than good enough. Do you understand?”

The girl slowly nodded.

“And you can have that ice cream after dinner if you still like it and you know why?”

A shake of her head

“Because you’re a very brave girl, who deserves some ice cream.”

_Who deserves everything in the world._

* * *

 

After dinner, Emma bathed Regina again, this time it went without a hitch. The girl was dead tired after the warm bath and the exhausting day so Emma put her to bed right away. She told her their goodnight story and stayed with the child until she fell asleep.

When she came downstairs Henry was sitting in front of the TV.

“Hey kid.”

“Hey ma.”

Emma let herself fall on the couch beside her son.

“Kids can be really exhausting.” He chuckled, “I have no idea how mom did that all on her own.”

Emma swallowed. She’d known that Regina’s childhood probably hadn’t been the best, she’d met Cora after all, but knowing what she knew now and knowing what little Regina would grow up to be, it was a miracle that Henry turned out the way he did.

 _No, not a miracle, Regina is just a damn good mother._ Emma didn’t know if she would’ve been able to do that. That’s why she gave her boy up in the first place.

“Did you have fun today, Hen?”

The boy smiled, “Yeah, it was awesome. I kind of like being a big brother so to speak.”

Emma smiled back at him.

“Let’s get you to bed. If your mom finds out you are up this late on a school night…”

Henry sighed and stood up.  
  
“Yeah, yeah she’s gonna kill you. I know. Goodnight ma”

“Night kid.”

* * *

 

A little while later Emma closed the door to her bedroom.

Well that day had been fun. And intense. She really had to make progress on that potion tomorrow. But on the other hand…little Regina was so cute and she deserved some fun childhood memories and Emma was happy to help out. Maybe because she herself never really had them.  
Deciding to leave that question for another day, Emma slipped in her nightgown; or Regina’s nightshirt to be more precise. She had forgotten to get her clothes today. Again. But now that they were full of grass stains and mud she would have to make a trip to her parents’ tomorrow. She had hoped the brunette wouldn’t be mad at her if she borrowed one of her silk pajamas. And god were they soft. The only way Emma thought they could be improved was if there would be a certain brunette wearing them and maybe even let Emma cuddle with her. _Woa, woa, where did that come from? Stop fantasizing about Regina!_ Regina in pajamas with tussled hair lying on a pillow next to her… _for fucks sake stop it!_

Groaning she let herself fall onto the bed, head first into her pillow. She was out minutes later.

 

In the middle of the night Emma woke up because someone was tugging at her nightshirt.

She opened her eyes to find red rimmed big brown eyes staring at her.

“Hey, sweety, what’s wrong?” Emma asked, her voice husky from sleep.

“I-I had a nightmare. You- you said I could come to you…”

The blonde scooted to the other side to make room for the girl and lifted the blanket.

“Of course, Gina. Come on in.”

The child nestled herself into her favorite spot – Emma’s arms. They were silent for a while and the blonde thought Regina would be asleep by now when she heard a quiet voice say:

“Are you always going to be the Dark one?”

Emma sighed, deciding that she wouldn’t- _couldn’t_ lie to Regina again. Not about that.

“Yes I think I do. But I don’t have to be evil.”

“How do you make sure that you don’t become evil?”

_Yes how do you do that, Swan?_

“Well, love is the most powerful magic there is. So as long as I can love and others love me I should be alright.”

It wasn’t a lie but Emma wasn’t sure if it was the whole truth either.

“So, when you have people who love you and you love, you won’t turn completely dark?”

“That’s right.”

At least she desperately wished it to be.

“Good. Then you won’t turn dark.”

The girl said with conviction against Emma’s neck.  
Emma smiled despite the serious conversation she was having with a six year old.

“What makes you so sure?”

“Cause Henry and I love you, silly”

Her heart skipped a beat and Emma choked up.

“I love you too, Gina”

she whispered in the girl’s hair and held her a little tighter.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I am so sorry for the long delay. University can be a real pain in the ass.
> 
> I hope you're all still interested :) Leave a comment and tell me how you liked it!
> 
> Mwah!

Wednesday:

"Where are we going today?"

Regina asked skipping along the sidewalk back to Emma's bug the next morning. They had just driven Henry to school.

"I have to go back to my parents' place to pick up some of my things. But we will find something fun to do this afternoon, okay?"

"Sure."

The girl nodded before climbing in the backseat with a smile.

* * *

Emma knocked before letting herself in.

Her mother was currently standing in the kitchen, making tea. Neal wasn't feeling too great for a few days so Snow had decided to take the week off. Between giving birth and the Snow Queen and the self-proclaimed 'Queens of Darkness' she hadn't been in school for most of the school year anyways.

"Emma! Regina! What a nice surprise!" Snow went over to them and then hugged her daughter tight before squeezing Regina's shoulders.

Snow went over to them and then hugged her daughter tight before squeezing Regina's shoulders.

"Hi, mom. I was just getting a few clothes and stuff. Any word, on uh…"

Mary Margaret understood. She shook her head.

"No, on both aspects."

Regina frowned. She knew something was being withheld from her but didn't know what.

Emma sighed. Seemed like Zelena and Robin had really skipped town. And of fucking course would the blue fairy take her sweet time with that potion.

_Alright, back to business._

"I'll be back." Emma said before darting to her room to collect her things.

"So, Regina, how are you doing today?" Snow smiled down at the girl.

Snow smiled down at the girl.

The child smoothed out a non-existent wrinkle on her skirt before answering politely:

"Very good, Lady Mary-Margaret, thank you. How are you?"

"I'm just fine. But you can just call me Mary Margret."

Her son chose that moment to start crying again. She rushed over to his crib and rocked him in her arms to calm him down. She didn't even notice Regina tip-toeing over to her until the girl spoke:

"Oh my, is this your son? Emma's brother?"

"Yes, darling he is. His name is Neal."

Snow bent down a little so Regina could get a better look at the baby.

The girl smiled and gently stroked his cheek with one little finger.

"Hello, little one. Aren't you a handsome fella?"

And just like Neal did when the grown up version of Regina held him, he started to smile up at the little girl.

Snow smiled bittersweet. This was the girl she'd met that fateful day when her horse got spooked. It made her wonder what they had lost. Years, decades of laughter and warmth and joy. They were working towards that now, she knew. And she truly believed that they could have this one day. She just wondered what would have happened if…

Emma came back downstairs with a duffle bag in hand. She greeted her brother with a kiss on his forehead.

That was when her cell phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and smiled.

"Hey, Dad. Guess where I am?"

Snow chuckled and shouted:

"Hello, love! Neal and Regina are saying hello too"

Emma grinned.

"Now you spoiled it! Anyways, what's up? Everything alright at the station?"

" _No, not really that's why I'm calling. I need you"_

"What? But I thought you said…"

" _I know. But Leroy called in sick. Sneezy apparently infected him with a bad cold. And we still have the burglary on our hands"_

Emma sighed.

"Okay, I figure something out. See you in a bit"

She ended the call and looked at Regina.

"Sweetheart, I have to go to work."

"Work?"

"Yes, I have duties as a Sherriff."

The girl nodded solemly.

"Of course. You have to protect the people."

"Exactly. But I can't take you with me, I'm afraid."

"Oh."

Regina looked like someone had dumped a bucket of water on her.

"But where will I go?"

"You can stay here with Neal and me if you'd like?"

Snow offered. Regina looked at Emma for confirmation, who nodded.

"I would like that very much."

"Okay, good. I promise I'll be back this afternoon. Bye, Gina"

"Goodbye, Emma."

Emma kissed the girl on her head and waved at her mother, already halfway out the door.

"Thanks, mom!"

* * *

It was well into the afternoon when Emma finally made her way back to the apartment.

This had been a disaster. The shop owner screamed at her for not having already found the culprits. And there was no evidence. Nada. The only thing stolen was spray paint, planks, nails and a sack of quick setting cement.

_Who the hell steals 50 pounds of cement?! Only in Storybrooke…_

Almost a whole day of work and it had gotten her nowhere. Besides, she felt bad about dumping Gina the way she had. That girl was lost and alone and Emma had just handed her off to someone who was a stranger to the child. She would have to make it up to her somehow…

Still deep in thought, she entered the apartment and stood -eyes blown wide open-staring at the scene in front of her.

Gina was sitting on the carpet in the living room, cradling Emma's little brother in her lap. She had his stuffed white horse (Ruby's present; "because he's Prince Charming's son, come on guys it's funny") in her hand and while making galloping sounds with her mouth swayed it in front of Neal's eyes who had his little hands outstretched to the animal and was giggling adorably. Snow was sitting on the sofa, a cup of tea in hand watching the interaction with a fond smile.

She noticed Emma first.

"Hey guys, look who's here"

Regina's head whipped around and she shot her a beaming smile "Emma!" Carefully she stood up, holding Neal securely against her and gave him to his mother before running into Emma's legs.

"I missed you"

The blonde bent down and hugged the child.

"I missed you too. Did you have fun today?"

The girl nodded eagerly.

"Yes very much. Mary Margaret is really nice and Neal is soooo cute. I want a little brother too. Or a sister! That would be nice! We could play together and play dress up and braid each other's hair and pick the blue flowers that only grow in that one place in the woods."

As the girl was rambling on Emma looked at her mother. Snow had a very strange look on her face, staring intently at the child.

"Hey, Gina. If we hurry we can pick Henry up from school, how does that sound?"

The brunette nodded smiling before turning around to Snow.

"Thank you very much for your…hos-hospi-tality. I had so much fun."

Snow smiled, "Me too, Regina. You can come over any time you want and visit Neal and us, alright?"

* * *

After they said their goodbyes the two of them quickly drove to the school.

Henry was happily surprised to see his moms.

When they were back in the car the blonde said:

"What do you guys think if we cook dinner tonight? Maybe Lasagna?"

"Oh, yes that'd be awesome! But you can't cook!"

"Ouch. You wound me, kid. I'm sure there's a recipe lying around somewhere. We may have to go grocery shopping, though"

"What's lasagna?"

Regina chimed in from the backseat.

"It's delicious, you'll love it, I'm sure!"

Henry said and winked at his blonde mother.

* * *

Regina was mesmerized. There was just so much food. She was sure they could feed the entire village not far from her home estate with all of that. She was currently sitting in the half full shopping cart in front of the fruit and vegetable counter and Henry explained all the different kinds she didn't know.

"And what about this one? It looks like a tree!"

"That's a pineapple. It tastes really good. It's yellow on the inside."

He handed her the fruit.

Emma rounded the corner with boxes of pasta in her hands.

"Found it." She breathed and let all of it fall into the cart.

"Ma, we need a pineapple."

Henry informed her. Emma was puzzled.

"Why would we need that?"

Henry motioned to the brunette girl who was turning the fruit in her little hands, inspecting every leave. Emma smiled.

"Ah, okay. Got it. Pineapple it is."

After they unloaded all of it and Henry had shown Emma where the adult Regina kept her recipes (Orderly, everyone on a separate sheet of paper in a separate protective cover all in one big map) she asked her son:

"So you wanna help us?"

He laughed.

"No way, I want nothing to do with this when that thing goes up in flames."

"Down in flames," Regina said.

"What?"

"It's going down in flames. Or up in smoke. At least at home it is…"

Henry looked at the miniature version of his mom as if she'd grown a second head. Emma laughed until her stomach hurt.

"She got you good, Hen."

She said when she finally could catch her breath again.

He shrugged but said with a smile.

"Whatever. I'm gonna do my homework now." And he went to his room.

"Coward!" Emma shouted after him.

* * *

Lasagna making resulted in Emma nearly burning the tomato sauce and little Regina sitting on the counter telling her what to do next, recipe in hand and scolding her every move while saying "No, no Granny baked differently!" to which Emma would reply "I'm not baking, I'm cooking. Huge difference. And do I look like a granny to you?" Regina only giggled while the blonde threw her a mock-hurt glance.

They carefully put the pasta and the sauces together in a casserole and Gina spread Parmesan all over it.

When it was in the oven, Gina sat down in front of it, staring at it through the glass door.

"I have to clean this mess up. Do you want to draw something while we wait?" Emma asked the girl.

"Yes please"

So the blonde set her paper and crayons up in the living room, before cleaning the kitchen. When she was done she picked up her cellphone and scrolled through the pictures. She stopped at their victory selfie from the day before. It was only now that Emma noticed how incredibly happy all of them looked. With a smile, she sat the picture as her screensaver.

"Look, Emma, I'm done"

Gina stood in the doorway holding a sheet of paper in her hands. She joined Emma on the stools at the counter and the blonde picked her up and sat her on the workspace.

"Okay, let's see it." 

Regina handed her the picture.

Emma smiled lovingly. On the left side was the blue stick figure of a boy with short dark hair and a grey and red striped scarf around his neck. In the middle was a stick figure with long brown hair holding a smaller figure with blonde hair and wings in her hands. There was another stick figure on her right with blonde hair a red jacket and a sword in her hand. They all stood in a green meadow with a big sun shining down on them.

"See? This one is Henry and this is me with Odette and that's you. You have a sword cause you're the Sherriff and you protect us like a knight."

Emma kissed the little girl on the forehead.

"It's beautiful, munchkin. Come on, let's hang it on the fridge next to all the other pictures."

She helped Regina down and went over to the fridge.

"Who is that?" "

"Who is what, honey?"

Emma said, not looking up from the paper she was putting on the door.

"The woman in that picture with Henry."

Now Emma looked down and was shocked to see Regina pointing at her older self in one of the photos on the fridge right next to her drawing. Dammit! She knew she should have taken them down.

"Uhh…"

She knew she couldn't tell her the truth but she didn't want to lie to the girl either.

"That's Henry's other mom."

She tried as casual as possible while checking on the lasagna. The girl scrunched up her nose.

"He has two moms?"

"Uhh, yeah."

"Where is she? Why isn't she here?"

"She, uhh, isn't in town at the moment, because she, uhhh…"

Since when did she say 'Uhh' so much? She could very clearly picture the older Regina shaking her head at her. _"Eloquent as always, miss Swan"_.

"Because she has some business to do in another city and she won't be back for a while."

She put on the kitchen gloves and pulled the casserole out of the oven.

"Oh, I see. So how long are you two married then?"

Emma nearly let the whole thing fall on Regina's expensive marble kitchen floor.

"What?!"

"I – I thought if you have children together you have to be married. I'm sorry."

"No, sweetie, it's okay. Her and I we – we aren't together, but Henry is our son. It's a bit complicated."

The girl scrunched up her face in this adorable way Regina still did as an adult.

_Wait, adorable?_

"But why do you live in the same house then?"

Emma put the Casserole down and grabbed a few plates and cutlery to buy herself time.

"Uhhhh, so I can take care of Henry while she is gone. This is his home, you know?"

It was really more of a question than an answer. Little Regina looked like she had another hundred questions, but Emma was saved by the ringing of her cellphone.

"Yes, Belle?"

_"Emma? You sound relieved, is everything okay?"_

Emma smiled reassuringly despite the fact that Belle couldn't see her. She whispered to Regina:

"Honey, go get Henry and tell him dinner is ready"

After the brunette had left Emma asked Belle

"Yeah, everything's cool. What's up?"

" _I talked to Blue just now and we managed to find out how to make the potion_ "

"That-that is great news, Belle"

Emma took the plates and set the table.

_"Yes. But it will take about three days until it's ready. I'm sorry we can't speed that up."_

Three days? She only had three days left?

"No, no three days is good. Awesome really. Thank you so much, I owe you."

* * *

"Emma?"

The little brunette asked when they lay in bed later that evening.

"Yes, honey?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, shoot"

"Uh, I didn't ask Mary Margaret today, cause my mother said that wouldn't be nice…and uh…"

"It's okay, munchkin. You can always ask"

The girl nodded.

"Mary Margaret is your mother and David your father right?"

"Yes, that's right."

"But- but why do they look like they are the same age as you?"

_Oops_.

"There-uh, there was a little magical-uh…accident when I was little and uh my parents didn't age since then."

_Great, Swan. So much for eloquent._

She knew it was a lie but what else should she tell her? And Regina would hopefully be back to her old self by the end of the week so the blonde thought that a tiny lie couldn't hurt anyone.

"Oh. Magic. I knew it."

"Sweetheart..."

"I just don't…understand. Magic does terrible things to people but they keep on doing it anyways."

"You mean your mom?"

She nodded.

"I never want to be like that."

She whispered snuggling closer to Emma. The blonde swallowed hard.

"Don't worry, Gina. You won't."

She didn't know whether it was true or not.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I’m gonna be on vacation for the next three weeks but I’ll post an update as soon as I am back.  
> Until then have a good time and as always let me know what you think!   
> Mwah!

Thursday 

 

The new day brought new work for Emma.

They ate breakfast at Granny’s, then Emma went to work while Ruby took Regina home where she would stay with her until after lunch.

Originally Emma had wanted Granny to look after the child but Ruby had begged her to escape work for half a day and since Regina seemed to like everyone she didn’t see a problem.

Henry, on the other hand would stay at his grandparents after school for some kind of project.

Now Emma was on patrol duty and drove through the city.

When she rounded the Covent she saw something hide in a bush. No not something, someone. She parked the car and looked around the back. Then she noticed a hooded figure spraying something on the wall of the main building.

_Spray paint!_

So that was her thief!

“Hey, police! Stop what you’re doing!”

The figure turned around and Emma recognized him as one of the older Lost boys. With a grin he turned around again and started running to the front.

“Shit.”

Emma cursed, she hated running after people. That damn Pongo was enough for her.

“Stop!”

She shouted after him and took off.

She rounded the corner and stopped, panting heavily, on the main path.

The boy had found his two companions and they all stood a hundred feet away from her, grinning.

“That’s enough, guys. You have to come with me now”

“Nope.”

One of them said, the others laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Emma snapped.

“Look down” One of them managed to say between laughs. Emma did.

She was standing knuckle deep in a giant make shift box full of cement. Wet cement. _A-fucking-mazing._

After she had pulled herself out, because of course none of the boys lifted a finger, she had put them all in her car and drove them to the station. Emma had threatened to curse them into frogs and that had made them well behaved like choirboys.

They confessed instantly. The boys wanted to get back at the nuns for being so strict with them. All the kids like the lost boys and other children that currently didn’t have a home for various reasons were staying at the Covent and apparently they didn’t like it one bit. So they cooked out this elaborate prank.

Emma called the shop owner to let him know, then called the nuns and forced the kids to clean everything and apologize to both the owner and the fairies. Additionally they had to work off the money they owed at the hardware store.

Exhausted and with dried cement on her feet she dragged herself to the mansion and let herself in.

“Hey Ems! You’re early we were just-“

“Emma!”

Gina cried out and like the day before threw herself in the blonde’s waiting arms.

Ruby smiled.

“Easy there, little pup”

When the girl had let go Ruby noticed Emma’s shoes and pants. “Uh, what the heck happened to you?”

“Uh, what the heck happened to you?”

Emma cringed. “Got schooled by some Lost boys. Please don’t ask. What have you guys been up to?”

“Got schooled by some Lost boys. Please don’t ask. What have you guys been up to?”

Regina and Ruby grinned. “Do you think we should show her?”

“Do you think we should show her?”

The waitress asked the girl. Regina nodded and dragged Emma by her hand to the living room.

Apparently they had…redecorated.

The sofa was pushed right in front of the TV creating a big space in the middle of the room, where they had hung a bed sheet from the chandelier like a tent and added every single pillow Emma had ever seen in the whole house. If she squinted it kind of looked like a castle.

“It’s a pillow fort!” Regina explained ecstatic. “Ruby and I did it all on our own”

Emma looked at the two brunettes with wide grins on their faces.

“We just finished,” Ruby explained. “Do you want to join us for lunch in our new housing?”

“I’d love that”

So the three of them sat inside the fort, illuminated by numerous flashlights, and ate reheated burgers Ruby had brought over from the diner before.

After that the werewolf said goodbye and Emma asked Regina:

“Would you like to go back to Mary Margaret, David and Neal this evening? They invited us to dinner”

Regina nodded.

“Of course, it would be rude to de-uh-cline such an invitation on such short notice”

“O-kay it’s settled then.”

“Emma?”

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“Can the pillow castle stay?”

Emma chuckled.

“Of course it can. You have to show it to Henry this evening anyways”

* * *

After Emma had taken a shower and changed her clothes they spent the rest of the afternoon in the fort, Emma reading Regina all kinds of old storybooks of Henry’s.

Then Emma ushered the girl upstairs to change for the dinner while Emma showered again ( _Seriously how did the cement get_ there _?)._

She was already fully dressed and had gone downstairs again to clean the kitchen after their impromptu indoor picnic. When she was done Emma shouted:

“Gina, come down, we have to go soon!”

She waited a few moments but there was no reply.

Worried Emma climbed the stairs.

_She couldn’t have hurt herself, right?_

She could hear music playing out of the girl's room. So that’s why she hadn’t heard her. Relief flooded through Emma like a wave.

“Gina, we have to go now, you don’t want to be late, do you?”

She sing-songed, before turning the knob on the little girl's door. What she saw in there made her speechless.

The brunette girl, clad in her purple skirt, white stockings, the only blouse they had bought and Emma’s red leather jacket ( _where did she get that?),_ jumped on her bed, singing loudly to the music that came out of the radio.

“I love rock and roll, so-put-another-dime-in-the –jukebox-baby!”

she had her hairbrush in hand which she used as a microphone.

Emma couldn’t believe it.

The six-year-old version of the mayor of Storybrooke and former Evil Queen, Regina, _her_ Regina, was rocking out to Joan Jett. And she was loving every second of it.

In all her time here Emma had never seen the child so carefree and well, just being a child. The girl didn’t know the words to the song apart from the refrain it seemed, but that didn’t bother her in the slightest.

Quickly Emma pulled her phone out from her pocket and began filming.

When the brunette was back to normal, she would most definitely kill her for this but Emma couldn’t care less. Besides Regina was going to kill her for all the other hundred things she had done the past days so one thing more or less didn’t matter.

She perfectly caught the girl throwing her head back, while singing

“I love rock n Roll, so put another dime in the jukebox baby!”

The little brunette jumped off the bed, threw herself dramatically on her knees, skidding on the floor in Emma’s direction

“I love rock and roll so go take your time and dance with me!”

Then she flashed Emma a brilliant smile

“Emma! Dance with me!” she stood up, and took Emma’s hand that wasn’t holding her phone.   
Laughing Emma put the device away as she took both of the little girls hands, spinning them around and around. When the song ended they both collapsed on the floor, breathing heavy in between laughs.

“How do you know that song?”

Emma asked the girl beside her.

“Ruby put it on before, she showed me how this technology conception works.”

She pointed to the CD player standing on the drawer.

“You’ve been listening to that song all morning?”

She nodded her head, then her brows wrinkled in confusion.

“Oh I almost forgot. What is a – a – jukebox Emma? They sing about putting money in there?”

“It’s like the CD Player you’re using, but you have to put a coin in there for every song you want to hear. You know, Granny has a jukebox”

“She does?”

Emma nodded.

“Yup. But we have to go now, munchkin or we’re gonna be late.”

* * *

Emma opened the door and the smell of delicious food instantly hit her.

“Hi girls”

Mary Margaret smiled, stirring in a pot.

“The chicken is almost ready, I’m just making desert.”

“Hi Ma! Hi Gina!” Henry came down the stairs and greeted his moms.

At last, David joined them too with little Neal on his arm. Regina instantly lit up

“Hello there, little lord”

“Why do you call him that?” Henry asked

“Well, he’s little and he’s at least a lord, even though your ranks in this land confuse me. So…”

Henry laughed.

“That’s a little strange. Would you call your kid-“

He stopped himself mid-sentence because he realized the same thing the little girl spoke out loud a second later with a somber voice.

“Well, since my mother wants me to become Queen, I guess I’d call him little prince.”

Everyone paused and looked at them.

A moment later Regina seemed to shake herself out of it and smiled genuinely.

“But that’s alright. He’d be my little prince”

Henry looked like he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Emma put a hand on each of their shoulders.

“Come on guys, why don’t we set the table, huh?”

The atmosphere was a bit awkward after that.

Snow sat at the head of the table, with David to her right and Emma to her left, Gina sat next to Emma of course and Henry opposite Regina. During the whole meal he stared at his little mother with an unreadable expression on his face. Emma was worried but she didn’t want to bring it up just now.   
“It’s delicious, Mom”

She said, to say _something_.

Snow smiled genuinely.

“Thank you, I actually gave that recipe to Re- uh- to your mother, Henry”

This earned her a laugh from the boy.

“Mom asked you for your recipe? Seriously that actually happened?”

Even Emma grinned. There was just something about imagining Madam-I-am-the-best-cook-in-town-Mills asking Snow White of all people for a recipe. They were friends now, true, but she’d imagine Regina’s ego took a hard blow that day.

Little Regina looked confused.

“Does your mother not like your grandmother, Henry?”

Snow was quick to answer for the boy.

“Yes, yes of course she does. I mean, there’s a lot of history between us, but we’re family now.” She smiled at the girl

“Is it because Emma and her conceived Henry together?”

For a moment no one moved. David’s hand hovered, fork in hand in front of his face. Mary Margaret and Henry looked shocked and Emma stared at the girl, mouth agape. Then the moment was over and Emma realized it was on her to set the record straight. With burning cheeks she tried as calmly as possible

“Darling, we- uh didn’t _conceive_ Henry together”

“But I thought you said he was both your son? Back at home, That, uh, sometimes happened. You know, with _magic”_

Emma wished for the ground to swallow her whole. She took a deep breath

“No, honey nothing like that. I gave birth to Henry, but – I, uh,” She shot her son a quick glance “I couldn’t take care of him for a long time and his mom took him in and raised him rightfully as her son until I could come back. And now, we uh, are both his parents.”

The girl seemed to mull that over in her head for a long time.

“You’re both Henry’s mothers but you didn’t conceive him together nor are you married?”

“Yes.” Emma smiled, thinking that awkward topic was done. Oh how wrong she was.

“Would you like to be married?”

“Huh?!”

Emma looked around the table, seeking help.

Henry snickered before standing up. “Come on, Gina, wanna help me with the desert?”

“Come on, Gina, wanna help me with the desert?”

The girl nodded happily and walked with Henry into the kitchen.

Emma let her head fall on the table.“I’m going to die.”

“I’m going to die.”

Snow reached out and patted her arm affectionately.

“She’s just a child, Emma. She’s curious. And your situation would sound strange to anyone back in the Enchanted Forest.”

“I need the other Regina back. The snarky one who complained about my paperwork and didn’t ask a million questions about my love life.”

Snow lifted her eyebrows.

“Your love life?”

Emma grew even redder if that was at all possible.

“You know what I meant, _Mom_.”

“Don’t worry, darling, I know exactly how you meant it”

Before Emma could retort, the children came back with a tray of desert.

* * *

The next day was a Friday and Emma was making breakfast for the three of them. Thankfully nothing more had happened at her parents’ the night before and she had rewarded herself with taking the day off. Since Emma’s days with little Regina were limited she wanted to make the most out of it.

“Morning, Ma”

“Good morning, Emma”

“Hey, kid. Hey, Gina. Are you guys hungry?”

Henry laughed.

“You have to ask?”

When they had finished eating Emma asked

“Should I drive you to school, Henry?”

“Nah, I’m early enough, I’ll take the bus. Thanks though”

He replied and was out the door a minute later.

“Okay, I’m going to clean this up and then we’re going to do something fun”

The blonde proclaimed. Regina smiled.

“May Odette and I play in the garden until then?”

A fence circumvented the garden and on two sides hedges additionally prevented anyone from stumbling in. Besides, even though Regina was good nowadays the people still feared her abilities and didn’t dare to go near the estate until absolutely necessary.   
“Of course, Gina. I’ll be right out. Maybe we can play a little soccer later, what do you think?”

The girl giggled and skipped to the back door.

While doing the dishes Emma smiled. She could get used to this.

She never thought of herself as the domestic type, but the past week she had felt more at home than ever before.

Ten minutes later the blonde stepped out in the garden. She frowned. No sight of the brunette girl anywhere.

“Gina? Where are you?”

Emma rounded the house.

“Gina, come on out! This is no time for hide and seek!”

But the girl was nowhere to be seen. Frantically she searched the whole garden, shouting her name over and over again.

Then she saw something.

Just at the hedge on the end of the garden laid Odette forgotten in the dirt.

_Fuck_. _Fuck. Fuck._

She felt her magic rushing through her body like she’d touched a power socket.

With shaking hands she pulled out her phone. Snow picked up after the second ringing.

“Mom, She’s gone! She’s gone!”

_“What? Emma, slow down.”_

“Gina. She’s gone. One moment she was playing in the garden and the next- Mom, someone took her!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know that was mean. :P


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Thank you so much for waiting and again sorry for the delay and the cliffhanger ;P I hope this chapter makes up for that. The next chapter should be ready in a few days (hopefully). And as always feedback is very welcome!  
> Mwah!

“ _Someone kidnaped her? Emma what? Why?”_

“I don’t know!”, the blonde cried. “All I know is that Gina is gone. And I need to find her. Call Dad, call Ruby and Granny and Belle and the others. Ask if someone has seen her! Hurry”

* * *

It was now an hour later and they hadn’t made the slightest progress. Emma had searched the entire neighborhood around Mifflin Street on foot. She just came back to the front porch when Ruby arrived with David.

“Where was she taken?”

The waitress asked while jumping out of the cruiser instead of a greeting.

Emma appreciated that, given that every second was precious.

“Backyard. I’ll show you”

Emma sprinted to the back of the house, Ruby on her tails.

When they arrived at the hedge the werewolf sniffed the air.

“I’m sorry Emma, the scent is too faint, I can’t track her, not in human form. And I can’t wolf out until full moon. Wait-“

She stopped and sniffed again

“But there is another scent. Like…disinfectant and sweat.”

Emma thought for a moment.

“Whale. Could it be him?”

Ruby shrugged.

“Possible. I’m sorry I can’t do more, Ems.”

“No you did great, thanks”

The blonde waved her hands and with a whiff of smoke she transported herself in the holding area of Storybrooke Hospital.

A few people gasped, clearly shocked to see her pop out of thin air, but since she had become the Dark One she found that less and less people dared to call her out on things like that.

She stopped a nurse, who had just walked into the room.

“Where is Victor Whale?”

“What? Why?”

_Patience, Emma. Deep breaths._

“Because I, the Sheriff, wants to know” she hissed between clenched teeth.

“He didn’t show up today, I don’t know where he is, really.”

* * *

 

 Emma had just left the hospital, standing in the parking area.

_Where could he be?_

_Why would Whale kidnap Gina?_

Her ringing cellphone interrupted her thinking process.

“Dad?”

_“I drove back out to Zelena’s farmhouse, you know in case…”_

“What did you find?”

“ _On the way there_ _I met Little John, he was furious. Told me that a man had tried to kidnap Roland earlier this morning”_

_“_ What!?”

“ _According to Roland he said he would bring the boy to his Dad. But one of the Merry Men saw someone they didn’t know talking to Roland at the edge of camp and scared him off.”_

“Whale.” Emma growled. “He must have tried to take Roland and when that didn’t work he came for Regina.”

_“Why would he do that?”_

“If he was telling the truth and wanted to bring the kid to his father, then Whale works for Robin and Zelena.”

“ _Of course, they can’t come back over the town line…But Whale can cross over to them.”_

_“_ And if he gets Gina over the line...Oh god.”

“ _But he could be anywhere_ ”

“Let me think. He needs to be close to the town line but stay hidden at the same time. So he’s somewhere in the woods…Gold’s cabin!”

“ _Emma! Don’t go in there alone, he’s dangerous. Wait for me! Emma?”_

But Emma had already ended the call and poofed away.

* * *

 

She landed a few feet away from the lodge. Carefully Emma crept closer.

When she was standing right in front of the door she blasted it open with her magic.

With two steps she was inside, but no one was there.

“I know you’re here, Whale! Show yourself!”

she shouted as she pulled out her gun from it’s holster. Her magic sometimes failed her, her weapon never had.

“Emma!”

The blonde heard a scream from the back of the cabin.

_Regina_!

She sprinted through the rooms and saw Whale carrying Regina out the backdoor. The little brunette kicked and screamed and scratched, but Frankenstein didn’t let go of her.

Emma stepped out of the cabin and pointed her gun at the doctor, but she couldn’t get a clean shot.

Whale grinned and his hand wandered behind his back, pulling out a gun himself.

“Hold still, little brat or I’ll put a bullet in your pretty little head. You know, it’s like an arrow, only smaller, and more deadly.”

Gina went still in his arms, her eyes filling with tears.

“Emma.” She whimpered fearfully.

Whale laughed. “The Dark One can’t save you now, missy.”

Emma clenched her jaw. Whale looked at her.

“Put your gun down, Sherriff. You’re not going to shoot and we both know it.”

With an angry huff the blonde put her weapon back in its holster, her hands hanging limp at her sides.

“Whale, it’s over. Let her go.”

He giggled. “Oh no. This is my revenge, you know?”

He started backing away slowly, in the direction of the town line. _No!_ No way in hell was he going to bring Regina over there.

“Robin and Zelena set you up to this. They are waiting for you somewhere on the other side.”

It wasn’t a question.

Frankenstein giggled again.

“Maybe. Maybe they promised me I get to kill her all by myself.”

“Then why do they want you to bring her over the town line to them?” Emma asked.

“What?”

“They are playing you, idiot. Why would they hold up their end of the bargain when you couldn’t even manage to hold up yours? Once you are over there they are going to get rid of you. Permanently.”

In the second it took the doctor to process her words, Gina bit in his hand so hard it bled. He cried out and let go of the child, who fell to the ground but picked herself up quickly and started running towards Emma.

“You little cunt!” He cried out and aimed his gun at the girl.

Everything slowed down.

Emma saw that Regina would never make it to her and on that short distance it was highly probable that she’d get hit. But she knew that she herself was standing too far away, there wasn’t a chance she was going to reach Gina before the bullet did. She only knew that she had to stop this from happening.

_Magic is emotion. Concentrate!_

The darkness inside of her reared it’s head, delighted to be called into action again.

So when a second later the bullet left it’s chamber, spiraling towards the child, a black shimmering half sphere built itself up in front of Regina and the bullet crashed against it and bounced off, before falling to the ground.

She exhaled.

It worked.

Whale looked just as puzzled as Regina to what had just happened.

The darkness inside Emma meanwhile reached its boiling point.

_Punish him! He wanted to take her from us! He needs to pay._

With a flick of her wrist the gun flew out of the doctor’s hand and landed in the bushes. A second later he was suspended in the air in her chokehold, his feet dangling in the air, trying frantically to hold onto something while his hands grabbed his throat.

“You just wanted to kill an innocent little girl.” She growled. “You abducted her and you scared her and you. Tried. To. Kill. Her.”

Each word was followed by an invisible punch in his face.

She closed the distance between them.

“And now, I’m going to kill you.”

And with one swift motion she ripped his heart right out of his chest.

_Do it! Do it now! Blood! Blood!_

_“_ Emma!”

_crush it, crush it!_

“Emma!”

A child’s cry. Regina’s cry. Emma blinked. Had she imagined that?

“Emma, please don’t!”

The girl stood behind her, tugging on her shirt.

“You promised me you wouldn’t turn dark. Not like mother.”

Emma tried to concentrate on Regina’s words, her voice.

“You’re the Sherriff, remember? You’re s’pposed to protect people, not kill them”

When nothing happened Gina continued, tears streaming down her face.

“Emma…I love you, please don’t leave me”

_I love you._ _No, crush it. I love you. Crush. It. Don’t leave me. I love you. Don’t leave me. I love you. Don’t leave me. I love you._

Slowly the voices in her head faded out leaving nothing but a stinging headache.

Emma breathed in deeply and let the doctor fall from her grip. He landed on the ground with a thud.

Then she looked at her hand holding the heart. With a smacking sound she put it back where it belonged. The man was gasping for air, his hands clinging to his chest.

The blonde let herself fall to her knees and engulfed Regina in a hug.

“I love you too, munchkin. So, so much”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again dear readers!  
> And with this chapter we have to say goodbye to little Regina. But don’t worry, the story isn’t over. There are still some chapters left. ;)  
> Mwah!

It had been easy after this.

Emma had cuffed Whale around a tree and walked home with Gina in her arms, her magic and both of them exhausted. She called her father and told him everything. He had already been on his way and promised her to take care of the doctor.

By the time they had arrived at Mifflin, Henry and Snow were already waiting for them.

Snow had cooked them dinner, but no one was particularly hungry. They decided on watching a movie and Snow said goodnight to them all, sensing that they needed time alone. The three of them sat next to each other on the couch, absent-minded looking at the TV.

“What did that man want from me?”

A small voice asked after a while. Henry looked expectant at Emma.

“I don’t know, honey. He-he is sick. In his head, you know? He won’t hurt you anymore, I promise.”

“I know. You saved me.”

The girl said, matter of fact.

“That she did.” Henry nodded. “Guess she’s a white knight after all.”

Emma smiled at her son but Regina shook her head.

“No. Not white. More like a, a dark knight.”

Henry couldn’t help himself; he burst out laughing. Emma grinned as well.

“What’s so funny?”

Gina asked bewildered; she couldn’t know she’d just made a spot on batman reference.

* * *

 

Snow had shown up again the next morning, a Saturday morning, with David and Neal and asked if Henry wanted to go for a walk with them and feed the ducks at the harbor. Henry agreed, thinking his moms had a lot of stuff to digest. But they all agreed on a family dinner that evening, to celebrate so to say.

But it should come a little differently.

Emma was playing with Regina and her doll when the doorbell rang.

The blonde went in the foyer, checking that her gun lay on the table right beside the door. Just in case.

But when she opened she found Belle standing there, smiling.

“Morning Emma. I heard what happened. Are you both alright?”

She nodded.

“Yeah, I think so. Thanks. I’m sorry, Belle, but why are you here?”

The redhead gave Emma a sympathetic look.

“The potion is ready.”

And she procured a blue vile from her handbag.

“Oh.” Was all the blonde said.

“Here.”

Belle handed her the blue vile when Emma didn’t even reach for it.

“Will she remember?”

“I don’t know.”

Emma looked down at the potion in her hands, conflicted.“You did good, Emma. Really.”

“You did good, Emma. Really.”

“Thank you Belle.” She swallowed. “Is it-safe?”

“I made sure no one messed with it. She’s going to be okay.”

“Thank you. Again.”

The other woman nodded and left Emma standing alone on the porch, still staring at the vile. Emma sighed, finally looking up again. No she had to do this now or she wouldn’t do it at all. “Gina?”

“Gina?”

The blonde walked into the living room where the girl sat, playing with her Odette.

She sat down beside her on the carpet.

“Gina, you can go home now.”

The girl looked at her. “Really?”

“Yes really. “ She held up the vile. “If you drink this you will be back with your Dad in no time”

“But it’s…magic” she whispered the last word. Emma smiled.

Emma smiled.

“It won’t hurt you, I promise. It’s good magic.”

“Like the one you used to stop the bu-bullet?”

“Something like that, yeah.”

The little brunette nodded determined.

“Alright.”

Then her lips quivered. “I won’t see you again, will I?”

“I won’t see you again, will I?”

Emma gulped.

“Yes you will, honey. I’m never far away, I promise.”

Tears shone in brown eyes.

“I’m going to miss you.”

Then she flung herself in Emma’s arms, effectively positioning herself in the blonde’s lap.

“I’m going to miss you too.”

The blonde whispered in her dark hair.

Regina carefully took the vile from Emma. Then she remembered something.“But I can’t say goodbye to Henry and Mary Margaret and Ruby and Granny. And I didn’t give Lady Belle her book back!”

“But I can’t say goodbye to Henry and Mary Margaret and Ruby and Granny. And I didn’t give Lady Belle her book back!”

Emma smiled at her, stroking her dark curls affectionately. “Don’t worry, I’m giving it back for you. They will understand, I can say goodbye

“Don’t worry, I’m giving it back for you. They will understand, I can say goodbye for you if you’d like?”

“Yes please, tell them thank you and that I will miss all of them dearly.”

“I will.”

The girl went in for another hug, burying her face in the crook of Emma’s neck.

The blonde held on just as tight; even though she knew Regina would come back it felt like losing someone. Maybe because Emma knew she couldn’t deny her feelings for the other woman any longer and didn’t know if she felt the same way for Emma. All Emma knew was that now, things would be different.

They pulled apart after long while and Emma wiped away the little girl’s tears on her face. Gina gave her a sad smile and then drank the vile.

A blinding light engulfed the child and a few moments later adult Regina was back. Just like that.

Just like that.

She blinked a few times, clearly disoriented, before she looked down on herself.

The purple shirt the girl -herself- had worn was plastered on her body, barely even reaching her stomach. For some reason her skirt had stretched enough to fit over her hips, but it too was much too short and didn’t even end mid thigh.

The worst part was that she was still sitting in Emma Swan’s lap.

Emma Swan who just stared at her with a wide grin on her face.

“Miss Swan-“

She didn’t come any further because Emma shot forward and wrapped the brunette in a tight hug. Regina was so perplexed she forgot to even protest and when she felt Emma nestled into her just like the way she had been just a few minutes earlier she found that she didn’t mind it. Not at all.

After a while she asked, because she was still _Regina_ :

“Are you quite finished?”

“Yeah, sorry.”

Emma carefully extracted herself from the embrace.

“Since you’re not throwing a hissy fit over the clothes I take it you remember everything?”

Regina raised an eyebrow.

“I do not throw hissy fits. But, yes I remember.”

Emma smiled. “Good.”

“I remember you feeding me junk food and dressing me in jeans for starters”

“Hey! Parenting a six-year-old is hard!”

“Pff, please. Maybe that’s because you’re still a child yourself”

“Ouch. That hurt. But at least I am just as adorable as little you was.”

“Are you calling me adorable?”

“Nope. I’m calling little Gina adorable. Everyone loved her!”

“Are you saying you all liked six-year-old me better than my charming self now, no pun intended?”

“No, never! I have to say though that Gina wasn’t nearly as bossy and sarcastic and definitely not so uptight.”

They grinned at each other.

It was then that Regina realized that she was still sitting on the blonde’s lap, half dressed.

Blushing she nearly jumped up and upon noticing just _how_ short her new/old clothing was, she flicked her wrists and purple smoke engulfed her, changing her back to black slacks and a red blouse.

Feeling a little bit more like herself again she looked around the house.

“I see you managed not to burn everything down.”

“Geez. Other people would say thank you now.”

Emma replied.

The brunette looked down on the floor for a few seconds before lifting her head and looking at Emma.

“Thank you, Emma. I mean it. And - I’m sorry that I – gave you so much trouble”

Emma supposed Regina’s uncharacteristically openness was a left over from her days as a child.

Emma stood up to be on eye level with the older woman. She felt that this was very important right now. So she wanted to make it very clear.

“Regina, I liked to take care of you. You were an adorable, amazingly smart and kind little girl. And you didn’t make trouble. Zelena and Robin and Whale did.”

Regina swallowed.

“He tried to kill me. My sister and my supposed soul mate tried to kill me. Twice. And they would’ve succeeded if it wasn’t for you.”

Emma shrugged and smiled, a little uneasy in face of all those admissions.

“Hey, you would’ve done the same for me, right?”

“Of course, Emma.”

After a moment she continued.

“I suppose at some point we-we will have to talk about a few things, won’t we?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

In that moment the front door opened and Henry shouted. “I’m home guys. Guys? Are you here? Ma?”

Emma and Regina smiled at each other.

“In here, kid!” the blonde shouted back.

The second Henry came through the door he laid eyes on his brunette mother.

“Mom! You’re back!” he cried out and threw himself in her arms.

Regina hugged her son close to her, blinking back a few tears.

“Yes, my little prince, I am. I love you very much, you know that right?”

“I know. I love you too.”

They broke apart and Henry excitedly spoke up again:

“So tonight we will really have something to celebrate.”

Regina looked at Emma quizzically. The blonde shrugged.

“Family dinner.”

Regina nodded.

“I see. But we will do that here this time so I can cook myself. You would only feed my junk food anyway”

“Hey, no fair!” Emma protested, but she grinned all the while.

“If you, I dunno, write me a list I could do the grocery shopping?” Emma asked.

Normally Regina would say no. She’d go on her own and select the best vegetables she could find in the store and bake the bread herself and- but she stopped herself. There was no need to do all that all by herself. ‘Normally’ that had been when she was alone, when no one cared about her, besides her son. Now Emma was there, with hopeful green eyes and a dorky smile, waiting to be _let in_ , just a little.

“Alright. I’ll write you a list.”

* * *

 After she had sent Emma and Henry off to the store with a very detailed description of everything they needed, she walked upstairs to her-Gina’s- room.

She sighed. At the moment she felt all sorts of confusing and strange emotions. They had treated her with kindness. They all could’ve just as easily got rid of her, but they hadn’t. She never realized until now how much she’d needed that.

With renewed determination she left her old room. She would run a few errands of her own this afternoon, she decided. And she would start by returning a book.

 


	9. Chapter 9

Belle crossed her arms over her chest while rounding the counter in Rumple’s pawnshop. She regarded the woman across from her with a wary look.

"Regina, what are you doing here?"

"I went to the library first, but no one was there, but I promised to return a book, so-" she opened her bag and pulled out the Pippi Longstocking novel.

"Here."

She held out the book to Belle.

The younger woman took it, still looking at Regina warily.

A few seconds passed where both of them were silent; Belle was waiting and Regina didn't know how to start.

"Look, Belle, I-"

she sighed and her gaze fell to the ground before fixating on the other brunette again.

"I hurt many people and even though at the time I thought they deserved it, most of them didn't. You are one of those people. You were the means to an end- to have power over Rumple- and I hurt you to get back at him. But-"

She exhaled and straightened herself before continuing,

"I can't change that now. Apologies don't come easy to me, but I truly am sorry."

Belle nodded.

"I understand. I do. And I want to forgive you- a part of me already has- but not fully, not yet."

Regina swallowed. She had expected that, less even. But she wasn't finished.

"I didn't come here for your forgiveness, I know now that these things...take time. I wanted to say thank you. For helping to bring me back. I'm not sure what I would have done in your position."

"I was helping a sweet little girl who deserved another chance."

Regina opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again when she realized there was nothing she could say to that.

So she simply nodded and left the pawn shop. She breathed in deeply. This was a lot harder than she thought.

But she still wasn't finished. She headed back towards main street for her next task.

* * *

 After shopping Emma paid a visit to her mother. They went out for a walk along the docks with her little brother in his stroller.

"So, Regina's back, huh?"

Snow asked, not looking at her daughter beside her.

Emma nodded.

"Jup. The potion worked. Everything's back to normal"

"Is it?"

"What do you mean?"

Snow stopped at a bench and sat down and after a moment Emma followed suit.

"Emma, I'm not stupid. You were happier the past week than I have seen in a long time. You even seem to be in better control of your powers."

The blonde didn't answer and instead shoved her shoes in the dirt.

Snow spoke again, quietly.

"you really love her don't you?"

Emma's head snapped up.

"What? No- I care for her, she's my friend-I think- and I-"

Snow laid a hand on her daughter's arm.

"It's okay."

"What is? That I think my true love is a woman or that it's Regina?"

She snapped, realizing what she said a moment too late.

But Snow only chuckled.

"Both, Emma."

"But she'll never feel the same way. I mean- this is crazy!"

"That's exactly what you said about Henry's stories when you first came here and look at us now."

"How can you be so calm about this? I mean, come on!"

"Emma, Regina and I- we've been through a lot. But we've come around, we're friends- _family again._ What I want to say is- I know Regina. And I don't think your feelings are crazy."

Emma huffed.

"And how would you know that?"

Snow smiled again.

"I'm a lot more perceptive than you give me credit for. The both of you."

* * *

 Regina looked at the door. She wanted to be good, but why did it have to be so strenuous? But it was the right thing to do and she really did want to be a better person. So she opened the door and stepped into the diner. Since it was Saturday afternoon, it was quite crowded. And everyone was staring not so subtly at her.

"You're back!"

Ruby's voice rung out loud through the room. She rounded the counter and gave the surprised woman a squeeze.

When she saw that the people where still staring at them- this time at the unusual display of affection no doubt- the waitress simply pulled Regina to the back and into the kitchen.

"Granny, look who I found."

Widow Lucas looked up from where she was cutting vegetables on a counter.

"Regi- I mean- Madam Mayor. Good to see you again."

"It feels good to be back, thank you. And it's Regina to you, you know that."

The old woman nodded, a smile tugging at the edges of her mouth.

“I’ll take it your memories are still intact then.”

Regina took a step forward. Ruby, who was standing in the doorway, cleared her throat.

“I’m just gonna leave and take care of the-uh-diner”

When the other brunette was gone, Regina spoke:

“I do remember. And I-wanted to say thank you.”

“You’re very welcome. It was…nice having you around again.”

There was a moment where both of them remembered late nights baking in the kitchen when Regina had had another nightmare and days in the woods where Eugenia explained all the different herbs and flowers to the little girl.

The old woman sighed.

“Regina, I have to apologize.”

The brunette was surprised.

“What?”

“I left you. You were an innocent; a helpless child and I left you. I knew exactly what was going to happen to you and I left you all the same. I, Red-Ruby-, she needed me and Lady Cora she-she… I had to make a choice. And I did. I can’t regret it, she’s my grandchild, she had to come first.”

“I understand. You had to protect her.”

Regina said curtly.

Granny made a few steps so that she was standing only a few feet apart from the younger woman.

“But I am sorry you had to pay the price for that choice.”

* * *

 It was already fairly late on the evening when Regina and Emma finally had a chance to talk.

“So how was your first day being your old-uh-older self?” Emma asked, sitting on the couch in the study.

The evening had been fairly peaceful. Everyone seemed truly glad that Regina was back and unharmed. They had a long talk about what to do with Whale and how to get a hold of Robin and Zelena but came up empty-handed.

For the time being David would transfer Whale to the psych ward of Storybrooke Hospital. Regina had stayed unusually quiet during the whole discussion. Emma thought she was probably trying to work through this new betrayal.

Just thinking about the two assholes who’d almost taken Regina from them-from _her_ \- made the darkness in her churn, slithering through her veins.

But every time her brain produced unwanted pictures of Hood and Zelena tortured or dying at Emma’s hands, she replaced those with Regina and Henry snuggled together on Regina’s sofa or Regina smiling at her.

And the awful feeling went away.

Snow and David had to leave relatively early, due to little Neal who had to go to bed.

Henry had already gone upstairs too. Emma suspected he was still up, reading his new Comic books, but today she thought she’d let it slide.

So after she and Regina had cleaned up, the brunette had invited Emma for a drink in her study. Of course Emma accepted.

Regina sighed as she prepared to glasses of apple cider for the both of them, while answering Emma’s question.

“Stressful. I never realized how exhausting it is, being honest to people.”

Emma stared at the back of the brunette’s head.

“Yeah, I know. But it’s all good now?”

Regina turned around and walked over to the blonde, drinks in hand.

“With Granny, yes I think so. Belle and I- I’m not sure, we’re working on it.”

She sat down next to Emma and handed her her drink. It was then she realized how domestic all of this was. Talking about her day with Emma, sharing; She found it was very comforting. Emma listened to her, really listened. Regina knew that Emma truly cared for her, she felt it almost every time the blonde so much as looked at her, but she had never consciously _known_. Until now.

“And you? Snow threw you strange looks all evening.”

Emma quickly took a sip to buy herself some time.

“Really? I hadn’t noticed”

Regina squinted at her.

“It was hard to miss. Is something wrong between the two of you?”

“No, nothing wrong. We, uh, talked about some, uh, stuff today, that’s all.”

“Stuff?” A smile tugged at the edges of Regina’s mouth.

“I see you’re as silver-tongued as always, dear.”

She saw Emma grinning from ear to ear.

“What?”

The blonde shook her head.

“I’m just really happy you’re back, that’s all.”

Emma expected a snarky comeback but instead she saw Regina slightly blush. _What the hell? Was it possible that her mother was right after all?_

But of course, them being, well them, they had stayed away from any semi-dangerous topics the rest of the evening. Until it was time for Emma to leave and Regina had more or less accidentally invited the blonde to stay over.

“I mean I can go, you don’t have to…”

“No! no, stay. It’s late and you had too much to drink to drive anyway.”

“Okay, then I’ll stay.” Emma couldn’t hide her smile at that prospect.

Regina gestured towards the staircase.

“Your room is still the way you left it.”

“Thank you.”

Emma grinned while climbing the stair. They both knew Emma wasn’t that drunk and even though she could still easily make her way home. Regina had _wanted_ her to stay.

When she switched off the light a while later she lay in the dark and whispered in awe: “My room”

* * *

 Emma woke up to someone knocking softly at her door.

“Yeah?”

She sat up groggily and saw Regina standing in the open door. Apparently, she hadn’t bothered with the lights in the hallway but the moon provided sufficient lighting through Emma’s window.

“It’s me.”

Regina said in a quiet voice.

“What’s wrong, R’gina?”

The brunette tugged her robe tighter around herself.

“I, uh, couldn’t sleep.”

Emma looked at the other woman’s face. She knew that look.

“Did you have a nightmare?”

“Yes.”

She let a few seconds pass before she started again.  
“I know it’s completely irrational and childish but could I- Would it be alright if I – stayed-here? Only for a little while, I mean.”

“S-sure, no problem. Come on in.”

Carefully Regina moved to the other bedside and lay down beside Emma, pulling the covers over herself.

They just laid there, in silence, for a while.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No, not particularly, no. I’d rather forget it.”

“I get that.”

They were quiet after that and when Emma thought Regina had already fallen asleep, she heard her soft voice again.

“The things you said to little Gina…Did you really mean them?”

Emma’s heart skipped a beat. There it was. The moment of truth. Emma wanted to run. Run far away where she couldn’t see those big brown eyes glistening in the dark, desperate for an honest answer. Far away where she would never have to deal with the pain of rejection, with all those awful things that would sure follow this very moment. But she didn’t run. She stayed right where she was and when she answered she was surprised how confident her voice sounded.

“Yes.”

“Okay.” Regina whispered.

“Okay.” Emma parroted.

For seven excruciating seconds Regina was quiet. Emma wasn’t even sure if she was breathing. Then again she didn’t dare to do so herself.

“I meant what I said, too. Every word.”

They looked at each other in the dark and somehow they silently agreed, as they always did. Emma smiled then and opened her arms. Even in the dark she could see Regina smile back at her, just a little bit, before she laid down in Emma’s arms, her nose softly touching the blonde’s neck.

They still had a lot to figure out. Like what happened to Robin and Zelena or what they would do with Roland and Whale. Emma needed to learn how to control the darkness and she and Regina needed to sort out their feelings. Actually talk about them for once. But that could wait until tomorrow. Right now Emma felt truly at home in the world and she was happy. She looked at Regina. A soft smile grazed her lips, as she lay snuggled into Emma’s side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just one more chapter left guys! Thank you so much for your support and feedback! Love you all and see you soon!  
> Mwah!


	10. Chapter 10

Epilogue

_3 years later_

The sun was shining through the not fully closed curtains into the master bedroom.

Regina opened her eyes with a sigh. A look out the window confirmed that the day had already begun.

A day she dreaded.

She turned her head and couldn't help the smile that settled on her face at the sight of a mass of golden locks, partially buried in the covers. Emma almost never woke up before the alarm. They were both light sleepers, but Regina liked to get up early while Emma seldom woke up before an alarm.

Regina still sometimes thought she was dreaming the last three years. She didn't even know why she'd been afraid.

Being with Emma was – amazing.

They brought out the best in each other. Sure, they fought – a lot- because they were two equally strong-willed, stubborn, passionate women. But they came around each time.

It was almost laughable how easy it had been. After their nightly declarations, Emma just took hold of Regina's hand when they left the house for a breakfast at Granny's. Henry had smiled but said nothing. And Emma didn't let go of her hand until Ruby set a gigantic plate of pancakes in front of her. One of the townspeople dared to question Emma's sanity on their way out, while saying some not-so-kind- words about both of them, but the blonde had merely clogged him out with her hand that was not attached to Regina's.

To her surprise, even Snow and David didn't freak out. Snow shared a smug grin with Charming before engulfing both women in a bear hug.

And that had been that.

The brunette turned her head when she heard the bedroom door creak open.

Big brown eyes stared at her through a curtain of blonde hair that looked so much like Emma's it was almost scary. Regina laid a finger on her lips. The child nodded, grinned and tip toed to the bed. When she was a few steps away the girl started running and with one jump she landed on the bed, directly on top of Emma who jerked awake.

"Good morning, Mommy!"

"You scared me to death, little one!" Emma breathed.

She turned to her girlfriend.

"And you? You didn't even warn me!"

Regina knew Emma wasn't really mad. She smiled and gave the blonde a chaste kiss on the lips.

"Sorry, darling"

"Hmm, apology accepted. And now to you-"

The girl screamed with glee as Emma grabbed her and started tickling her relentlessly.

"Mommy, stop I have to pee!"

Emma laughed and let her daughter go. The little blonde gave Emma a peck on the check and rolled out of bed.

"Hey, what about my good morning kiss?" Regina pouted.

The girl quickly turned around and fell into her waiting arms before soundly kissing her check, too.

"Sorry, Momma!"

Regina squeezed her tight. "Are you excited for your first day of school, honey?"

"Yes! I'm gonna learn lots of things and become smart like Henry. And then I'm gonna go to col-college with him!"

"Sounds like an amazing plan, munchkin. You have to get ready for your big day first, though."

Emma leaned over and tussled her hair. The child grinned up at them and then made a beeline for the bathroom.

Emma sighed and let herself be held by the brunette.

"I can't believe she's already going to school."

"Me neither. Maybe we should have given her an extra year, you know, just in case she gets overwhelmed?"

"Gina, we already did that. She's ready. Come on momma-bear we'll be late."

Regina laughed while standing up, untangling herself from the blonde.

"Oh, so I'm the over protective one? Need I remind you that you were the one who brought the boy to tears who wouldn't let her on the swings last week?"

"Hey! They're supposed to share, right?"

"Right" Regina chuckled.

Emma made no move to get out of bed; instead she put her arms behind her head and asked:

"So we're still picking her up together right? I traded shifts with Ruby. Have to be at the station after family dinner with my parents and take her night shift, though."

Regina nodded while walking over to her closet to select her outfit for the day.

"That works. I'll take an extended lunch break and Belle offered she'd meet me at home to revise the blueprints."

Regina said, already halfway in her closet, searching through her extensive blouse collection.

"That's nice. So the library reconstruction thing did work out, huh?"

The blonde asked while checking out her girlfriend's behind, which was barely covered with her silk nightshirt.

"Yes. And stop ogling my ass, dear." Regina grinned, without having to turn around. She could almost always feel Emma's gaze on her.

The sheriff laughed, not in the least sorry to have been caught.

"Can't help it. You're gorgeous."

Regina walked back to the bed and bent over to give Emma a kiss.

"So are you, my darling."

"You're still in bed?!" Their daughter squealed, having just returned from the bathroom.

"I don't wanna be late! Come on!"

Groaning Emma hauled herself out of the bed. She looked at Regina. "She's even worse than you are."

Regina laughed. "Not possible. Now, hurry up!"

* * *

As they walked to school together a little while later Emma remembered a rainy day a little under two years ago.

She and Regina had been together for more than a year then. For some of the people in town it seemed odd that the two of them wanted another kid and that so early in their relationship. But her mother had been their biggest cheerleader and constant supporter in everything. Henry was ecstatic to get a little sibling, he was just sad that soon he wouldn't be around as much when he'd leave for college.

Originally they had both wanted to adopt a baby girl, but when the blonde saw a little four-year-old girl sitting in a corner of the orphanage she had her mind set. Of course, Regina agreed with her and the social worker did, too. They visited the girl with Regina's eyes and Emma's hair -Gillian- every weekend with Henry after that. And when all the paperwork had been filled out many weeks later, the women drove up to Boston on a rainy day to bring their daughter home. Regina had asked then.

_Why her?_ \- _Because,_ Emma had said, _She looked at me the same way you -little you- looked at me from under that table. And that girl deserves a family, too._

"I hope she will be alright" Regina said, prompting Emma to focus on the present again.

She watched their daughter. Gillian was two steps ahead of them, skipping along the sidewalk without a care in the world. Just happy and excited for a new adventure.

"No one would dare to mess with her." The blonde said with conviction.

"You mean with us as her parents? The Savior slash Dark One slash Sheriff and the More or less redeemed Evil Queen slash mayor?"

"No." Emma said, laying an arm around the brunette. "Much scarier. Just Regina and Emma, two moms who'd walk through hell and back for their children."

"Much scarier. Just Regina and Emma, two moms who'd walk through hell and back for their children."

-Fin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand that's it folks! Thank you so much for reading this story and all your feedback.
> 
> If you like, I'll see you again on my next story!
> 
> Mwah!


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